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Adults on the spectrum: your chance to educate professionals!

IntenseWorld

From Carol Povey, the NAS Director of the Centre for Autism:

"The first 5 modules of ask autism are now finished and this morning it was launched. Further details can be found on http://www.autism.org.uk/askautism.  Within 20 minutes of launching, we had our first enquiry. 
 
I want to take the opportunity of thanking all of you who have contributed to making this the unique product it is.  The aim of ask autism is to educate and enlighten professionals and others about what autism is, from the perspective of those who know best, - adults on the spectrum.  There is nothing quite like it in the market, and I hope and expect it will make an enormous difference in peoples understanding, directly benefiting autistic people not only in the UK, but across the world.  This could not have been done without the contribution made by each and every one of you.  The generosity with which you have shared your experiences, insight and amazing skills, is truly inspiring.  Everyone has contributed to the work in a different way, and we now have a training product that will not only reflect the autistic voice, but also its fabulous diversity. I particularly want to thank Damian who has been the mainstay of the work, and Dinah, who inspired it in the first instance.  (I think it may have been a conversation she had with Mark Lever!)
 
We have had challenges on the way.  To try to keep to the principles of true co-production and participation when faced with tight deadlines, funding uncertainly, branding and language issues, and technical delays has been difficult, and at times we have failed to always keep each other as involved as we had planned and hoped.  There are lessons for the future, but today, we need to count our many reasons to celebrate. We need to tell the world not only what a fabulous training product we've developed, but also that it really does come directly from autistic people.  I hope this collaborative way of working can be brought into so many more areas, now we have shown it can work. 
 
The unique aspect of Ask autism is that it is the voice of people on the spectrum - your voice.  I hope you feel it reflects your experiences and I hope you agree with me that we have a once in a lifetime opportunity to make a big difference with this training. 
 
Now that the launch is underway, we will be planning our next steps.  I hope to see many of you at the autism and participation conference on 28th January. Soon will then be deciding what our next modules should focus on.  I hope you will stay involved, and look forward to working with you in the future."

They are about to plan their next 4 modules, and are taking details of adults with ASC wishing to contribute, to put on their database.  If you want to get involved email your details to:

Parents

  • I actually don't personally believe spectrum is the right classification/terminology.

    They have misinterpreted the reason for there being differences in presentation.  People with autism (the jury is out whether Asperger's has different causes or physiology to classic autism) have their own individual balance of the traits and strengths of those traits.  In that way it's kind of a spectrum, but not quite.  As you say, the word spectrum indicates that the condition blends away into "normality" in a diffuse way.

    I believe that is wrong, I believe you either have it or you don't, just that there is diversity (as with neurotypicals) as to how you are affected and also environment can also to some degree affect which traits are more to the fore.  Someone who came from a neglectful family will have worse traits in some areas than someone from a supportive family who used early interventions.

    As for eye contact, I feel you place a lot of emphasis on this, when some people with ASC have no trouble with eye contact.  Some have atypical eye contact where it means they look too long and hard, rather than not enough, and some learn to improve it and you'd never know.  It's not a diagnostic criteria because not all ASC individuals are affected.  Some people with ASC don't have any sensory difficulties either, although I would say the majority do (and some are hyposensitive - they look for noise and sensory input, not hypersensitive).

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  • I actually don't personally believe spectrum is the right classification/terminology.

    They have misinterpreted the reason for there being differences in presentation.  People with autism (the jury is out whether Asperger's has different causes or physiology to classic autism) have their own individual balance of the traits and strengths of those traits.  In that way it's kind of a spectrum, but not quite.  As you say, the word spectrum indicates that the condition blends away into "normality" in a diffuse way.

    I believe that is wrong, I believe you either have it or you don't, just that there is diversity (as with neurotypicals) as to how you are affected and also environment can also to some degree affect which traits are more to the fore.  Someone who came from a neglectful family will have worse traits in some areas than someone from a supportive family who used early interventions.

    As for eye contact, I feel you place a lot of emphasis on this, when some people with ASC have no trouble with eye contact.  Some have atypical eye contact where it means they look too long and hard, rather than not enough, and some learn to improve it and you'd never know.  It's not a diagnostic criteria because not all ASC individuals are affected.  Some people with ASC don't have any sensory difficulties either, although I would say the majority do (and some are hyposensitive - they look for noise and sensory input, not hypersensitive).

Children
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