Published on 12, July, 2020
As summer is still getting started, it might seem strange to think about wintry activities! But, we are hoping you might be able to help us, as we start to build our communications for November onwards.
This year, we want to ensure we are fully representing what the festive season and Christmas mean to the autistic community and their families. This means reflecting on the good – the different, fun-filled approaches to the winter holidays – and the bad. We know that for many autistic people and their families, this time of year is fraught with upsetting challenges.
We would like to feature a range of stories to capture all these experiences, as part of our work to increase understanding and to change attitudes, whilst also helping to help raise money to fund our important work.
If you would like to share your story, please do get in touch – we would love to hear from you. Share your experience below or by emailing kate.vickers@nas.org.uk.
As a child I liked Christmas - I believed in Santa until I was approx 8, when I caught my dad putting my presents in my room, by my bed.Christmas was never really the same afterwards. It certainly lost any "magic" involved, and at that young age became mostly about the toys. We did not have a large extended family, so the day itself would be a relatively small occasion.
In the last 20+ years, from my mid 20s through to now, Christmas has been more enjoyable, as it is now more about the gifts I get for other people, especially my wife. I usually start acquiring things for her in the latter half of the year, as and when I discover things I hope she'd like.
As an adult I have become estranged from my own family, who are very different to my Autistic self, and I struggled from my late teens onwards with family events, and was undiagnosed. I started to cut ties with most of them about 15 years ago after my father died (he was the best dad you could ask for) and it has made life much better. They were not accepting of my way of living at all, unlike my dad, who was probably on the spectrum and undiagnosed as well.
Fortunately, my wife and her family are very supportive and lovely, and now Christmas is spent hosting them. I enjoy looking after them and making their day special. I've rediscovered some of the "magic" of Christmas in making their Christmas special. Their happiness has reawakened my enjoyment of Christmas and I look forward to it because of them.
I enjoyed reading this, thank you for sharing. I had roughly the same experience as a child although later in life i've found a lot of joy in buying other family members presents, plus my partner gets very excited about the festive season and so I love being around her during this time as it makes it feel very special, but totally understand that for others it all feels artificial for some. Certainly not a rational way to be :)
A lovely post to read.