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?
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.
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.
