Our oldest son is an Aspie with a special interest in sport and fitness. Despite having both fine and gross motor skills issues, compounded by the usual social and communications hassle, he's managed to master riding a bike (five years but he got there), learn to swim (quite well and with good endurance) and has played rugby (in local club teams) for six years. He does weight training three times a week, cardio circuits twice a week, and does cross-country runs three times a week. The mental health workers and psychologists who work with his social skills group say his physical skills are outstanding compared with most Aspies—largely down to his obsession with his getting his form 100% correct. It might take him years to get something right, but if that's what it takes…
However, as he heads into his mid-teens he's finding it increasingly difficult to take part as sport clubs and coaches don't want Aspies (swimming club wouldn't take him, football didn't work, current rugby coach is very negative etc.) The majority of players are very good—seeing his idiosyncracies as no different to the rituals of professional athletes—but club officials and coaches find it too difficult, to challenging and too threatening to have "one of this mental kids" in their sport. On top of that, we're in a rural part of Scotland so there's a shortage of sporting opportunities and facilities. So, I contacted Scottish Disability Sports regional manager to see if there were sports that might be more welcoming/inclusive of Apsies.
I was astonished when she replied to say that autism doesn't fit the disability classifications of the Paralympics and Commonwealth Games, therefore sporting people with autism fall outwith the remit of Scottish Disability Sports. I find it bizarre that people with autism are regarded as able bodied when it comes to sport—the condition is known to be associated with deficiencies in motor skills, compounded by communication and social skills issues, but it's not seen as a sporting disability.
So, if Scottish Disability Sports can't help as autism isn't a sporting disability, what are we supposed to do to help our son get into a sport that's genuinely inclusive of Aspies?
its possible he might qualify for a disabled sports group- just google the area of scotland and disabled sports group.
it isnt that autism is completely ignored by sports;its that it doesnt recognise the sporting barriers of high functioning autists,theyre mostly ignored by the mainstream but not seen as disabled enough to need the highly supportive environment of the paralympics/special olympics.
am not sure how true this is given the official site says no but was told a few days ago by someone on wrong planet that americas special olympics now allows aspies/HFAs to compete as they allege to be athletes,perhaps we need to go a similar way here;creating specific clubs for HFAs,am in the special olympics but am LFA.
Off the top of my head, I know the NAS is working on a project to make coaches more autism aware and increase sporting opportunities for young adults on the spectrum.
It's slightly out of their remit, but it's worth giving our education rights team a call, especially if the same teacher is popping up - 0808 800 4102
Perhaps ignoring internal complants procedures and instead take legal action against discriminatory orginisations? Once it becomes clear that discrimination will result in having to pay compensation, institutions are likely to become law compliant very quickly...
Perhaps a member of NAS staff can tell us what this orginisation is doing to promote sporting activities for those of us on the spectrum.
"The practice of sport is a human right. Every individual must have the possibility of
practising sport, without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which
requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play."
IOC Charter, Fundamental Priciples of Olympism, Point 4
The problem in Scotland is that most governmental functions are managed by semi-independent bodies, to whom MSPs refer issues.
The quality of output from some of these bodies is misleading, often protective of the professions or other interested parties within that organisation.
Sound familiar? Well its basically the same as the Civil Service, except the bodies in question are more independent and self governing. In England, if you ask a question of an MP, the MP will ask that part of the Civil Service, who will write back to the MP in a form the MP can pass to a constituent.
In Scotland the advisory body will write direct to the enquirer leaving out the MSP.
This lends itself to extraordinary levels of abuse and corruption. Which is going to a big worry if there's a yes vote in the coming referendum.
There isn't remotely enough central accountability.
I'm wondering if there is a general problem with Scottish organisations and services not applying the rules when it comes to Asperger's and autism.
I am having lots and lots of problems with the NHS, you have had problems with a school and now sport too.
I wonder if there needs to be something done so that organisations know their responsibilities when it comes to discrimination and reasonable adjustments. It looks to me like things are not happening as they should in Scotland and that it is just individuals complaining that get things to change, but the change is only for the individual and it doesn't last long (you mentioned backsliding, and I have found this too. Lots of apologies and promises which come to nothing, and you start from the begining every time you go somewhere new) and doesn't transfer to anyone else with Asperger's/autism. There are lots of rules and regulations but if the people on the ground refuse to implement them except when a complaint goes in then it is no good, plus the complaint process is very very long and so stressful that it totally ruins your life (that is my experience of the complaints process), and the autism charities are not there to help you as an individual they only give advice you can get from the internet, you are on your own.
Anyway, maybe the Scottish Strategy for Autism is just not working if no-one is overseeing that it, and the Discrimination Act, are actually implemented.
There seems to be a genuine issue with regard to paralympics - www.bbc.co.uk/.../magazine-19371031 - unfair and maybe it needs to be challenged whether the incident justifies the exclusion.
There was a thread about "paralympics", under hobbies & special interests, in September last year that might have bearing, about whether Aspergers was appropriate.
I agree with what's already been said though - the real issue here is unfair discrimination in able sports organisations. You shouldn't find yourself caught between being neither eligible for able sports nor sport for the disabled.
In a way this is something for NAS Campaigns to pick up on, because people on the spectrum clearly can benefit from sport and shouldn't have to endure such exclusions.
Also the sporting participation thread ought to have got responses. I did out of frustration no-one was answering, but maybe I over did it, because it does seem to have dead-ended.
There is a Cabinet Secretary for Commonwealth Games, Sport, Equalities and Pensioners's Rights in the Scottish Parliament: Shona Robinson MSP
You can email Scottish.Ministers@scotland.gsi.gov.uk They will hopefully forward to the right Minister if you explain this to them. But you could ask it to go to Shona Robinson and any other appropriate Ministers.
This is something that needs to be addressed to the top.
Have you spoken to someone at Scottish Disability Sports? If they understood the full package of problems then they might see things differently. It may be that they don't count autism on its own but it sounds as though he has ample other problems that should count in their eyes.
I wondered whether tandem cycling might work with him? If he took the stoker role at the back with someone as pilot on the front. Perhaps you could try this out on a tourer and then think about trying a racer later on?
Our son knows that other people have "fun" and has worked out that he should smile in certain "fun" situations, but doesn't do things, including sport, for fun. His aims are to do something better than the previous time he tried to do it and to hold his own/beat an equally strong/skilled (or stronger/more skilled) opponent. (He often won't try against weaker/less skilled opponents.) He keeps detailed records of his personal bests, his weights and cardio sessions, and his diet because "that's what you do when you're an athlete". He thinks he likes the feeling of doing strenuous physical activity because it gets rid of stress and anxiety and his muscles feel "warm and buzzy".
He likes rugby because he's one of the smaller lads in his age group (U15, and he's 48kg while many are 60kg plus), which means almost all the other players are bigger than him (although not necessarily stronger!) and that means it's a fair challenge for him to put them into the ground, drive them out in the ruck or outmaneuver them.
Squash would be a huge challenge for him due to the size and speed of the ball. It's taken years to get him competent in taking a pass in rugby (although he offloads well). His skills with smaller and faster balls are still lagging even though we play a lot of handball, plus I work with him on his rudimentary and fundamental movement skills.
He's spending the holidays watching the Commonwealth Games and is particularly focused on swimming, gymnastics, weightlifting and freestyle wrestling. However, theren't the opportunities for him to try them here, especially as an Aspie.
This is a really difficult question. I played squash for many years pre diagnosis. I played with a regular squash partner most of the time and lost 99% of the games! i always put this down to him being more keen and competitive. Now that i have the dx i am beginning to think i was never going to be that good as i was always going to a bit less skilled with the finer motor skills.
In hindsight I think squash was a sensible choice for an aspie as it is one on one and you don't have to do the whole social bit that goes with a lot of team sports. It never bothered me too much that i lost as i just enjoyed the exercise and it allowed me to vent some of the aggression that built up from time to time.
How much does he want to win? is he comfortable doing it just for fun?
To be honest, we don't have the time or resources to go after every organisation and individual who excludes or discriminates against him on the basis of him having an ASD. We've done it once, against his school, and won, but it was exhausting, took years, cost us a lot and they're already backsliding several months on. And as we live in a rural area, there's overspill so one of the reasons he's not wanted in the swimming club is because one of the teachers from the school is an official with the club. If we take on the swimming club, or the football club, or the rugby clubs, or the judo club, (or, outside the sports arena, the Cubs, the music teacher etc) etc then there will be overflow into other activities that involve many of the same people and their friends. It's simply not possible to fight each and every case of exclusion from activities.
I am not a lawyer, so I can't give any legal advice.
It sounds, to me, that the problem is that your son is being discriminated against before it even gets to Scottish Disability Sports.
For example, if the swimming club won't take him, because of your son's Asperger's, when his Asperger's isn't actually preventing him from swimming well, then they're discriminating against him because of an irrelevant condition, an irrelevant disability. In my opinion, it's as reasonable as excluding someone because of their ethnic background when it's obviously of no relevance to what the club's about: swimming!
Basically, the way it's sounding to me, it's not that your son needs his Asperger's to be properly accommodated as a relevant disability (like in the Paralympics), it's that he needs not to be excluded from ordinary clubs and the like on the basis of his irrelevant disability. Does that distinction make sense?
Perhaps it would be a good idea to seek proper advice about this from someone qualified to give it? I'm wondering if the Equality Act 2010 would apply to such cases as yours, but I'm not a lawyer, and I don't know. Could Citizens Advice be a good place to start?
