"I used to find that sometimes people just didn't get that I had Autism.
They thought that because I'm high functioning that, I can talk, that I can do my work,
that I'm fine and that I'm not Autistic."
Autism Spectrum Condition is a developmental condition,
that impacts on a child's ability to communicate, the way that they relate to other people
and also on their behaviour.
The symptoms are really varied but they impact on three different areas so
in terms of communication skill the child may be non-verbal, completely non-verbal,
or may be highly articulate but have a tendency to talk at rather than with people,
have limited conversational skills.
In terms of social interaction,
you have at the extreme end a child who doesn't show very much interest in people at all and prefers to be on their own
and to engage in solitary activities and at the other end of the spectrum,
you have people who are highly sociable,
but just have difficulty managing those relationships in the moment.
Autism Spectrum is not an illness it's a neurodevelopmental condition so,
you can think of it as a set of differences in the way that the brain processes information,
that results in some challenges in social communication, social interaction,
in thinking flexibly and in reading other people's non-verbal communication.
They will also find it very, very difficult to express themselves,
with regards to their feelings and their emotions in social settings.
So what we find is that they find their social side of conversing difficult,
so when they're in interaction with others they will misread often what's being said
because they get very confused.
But alongside that, they have what we class as repetitive behaviours,
that they are not, shall we say, characters of change.
They like to stick to their routines and they get very anxious and flustered if this has changed.
So they do need, what we class as, predictability and order.
So we find that some families find that very difficult with their child,
if they're trying to change their environment
such as a transition from home to school which can be problematic.
It really varies because it occurs on the spectrum
but at one end you have children who are non-verbal,
who have little interest in relating to people and tend to repeat the same behaviours over and over.
At the other end of the spectrum you have highly articulate people,
who nonetheless communicate in a slightly different way,
experience sensory sensitivities that can make them feel very stressed and uncomfortable in the world.
"There were so many things that made me stressed.
There was writing, there was spelling
and there were so many things and it never came out
because of an impression I wanted to get across,
and it did and it always came out at home which was annoying,
I hated it.
Some small stupid thing,
like maybe just laying the table or tidying up some toys
and they would just make me go off.
I've thrown chairs, I've messed up everything,
I've barricaded my door so no one comes near me,
and a few weeks ago I was so annoyed at like some little thing,
and I just, nothing was going, so I opened my window,
and put my feet out ready to like go to the end and jump off,
and I was just like, there's nothing to live for,
So I was literally on the verge of jumping out my window.
Like I had my feet there. I was basically ready.
I was like, you shouldn't have to do that over some small thing."
A lot of these difficulties are completely missed
because the child has other skills that compensate,
so if they're bright children, who are doing well in school,
then the teachers would often not even think that there might be an issue.
"Like sometimes in a car and there's tinted windows,
you can't see through and I felt that was me at school.
You just couldn't see what was actually happening,
and it was all, it was all kind of just kept inside,
it can look good from the outside but it can be scratched really badly on the inside."
"I was diagnosed aged nine so I was in about year five at school.
I don't necessarily remember much about the process.
I know I joked that I probably got diagnosed and went back to playing Pokemon.
But I know that my mum and dad had to fight really hard for it,
because I kept coming across this barrier of, you know she gets good grades, she gets good grades,
that's all we're worried about, what's the problem.
Everything else was the problem.
You know, I was obviously having the usual difficulties socialising,
quite frequent meltdowns because I guess,
at the time, I didn't necessarily know what my triggers were, what my sensory differences were.
But it kind of felt like particularly from a school perspective,
all they really cared about was the academics."
"I was told in the car, my parents told me,
and I'm ashamed to say this but I cried,
and I don't know why I cried. I don't think it was because I was scared or anything,
it's just because I didn't understand what it meant for me.
Like, I thought, I was so overwhelmed and so scared
and when I thought of the word Autism, when I was a kid,
I think of the more classic cases,
when you think of it, like Sheldon Cooper, Sherlock Holmes, like that anti-socially, aware, very robotic male
and when I thought that, I was like, oh my god, am I like Sheldon Cooper from The Big Bang Theory.
Am I like socially robotic?."
We used to believe that more boys are affected,
we're realising now that many girls are affected,
but were much better at masking it, so will have been possibly misdiagnosed with different mental health conditions
and actually have Autism at the source of their difficulties.
"A lot of the time, as well, when a girl has Autism, she has anxiety,
which is a massive thing and I think that's why people slip under the radar as well
because people think that a girl's Autism is anxiety.
That's what happened with me."
Studies vary but about 40 % of people with Autism, live with a diagnosable level of anxiety
and that might take the form of specific anxieties, or it might be more generalised.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder is more common in Autism,
alongside other mental health conditions.
Summer always suffered with anxiety.
I knew that she was Autistic from about the age of three,
but it was obviously trying to get that recognition.
So we had family counselling which didn't really have much effect,
because obviously Autism is not an illness.
You can't have a quick fix for it.
So then obviously nothing improves and so she went back when she was about seven and had some CBT
and once again nothing really changed because it was kind of putting a plaster over an open wound almost
and that didn't work and then she was finally diagnosed and it was kind of a relief actually,
because knowing that there's something wrong and not actually getting anyone to listen to you
and thinking that you're seeing things,
or you know there's something wrong with your child but no one would listen to you,
when someone finally does it's such a relief.
"If I'd had the diagnosis and people have thought about support beyond grades,
they might have thought about, okay what are your differences?
Could you maybe sit somewhere else in the classroom that's less noisy,
or things like that.
So again it varies from person to person
but I think it's really useful for other people to actually know what my difficulties are
and it's really useful for me to know what my difficulties are."
It helps those around the child to understand what they're finding difficult,
so when they're behaving in a way that perhaps looks unusual,
that that's interpreted not as
just naughty behaviour or wilful, disobedient,
or this kind of perhaps more judgmental things
that the reasons underlying that behaviour are better understood.
You know your child so,
if you believe that there is something there that is worth seeking a diagnosis
or an EHCP,
don't give up.
Keep pushing because your child can't do it, so you have to do it for them
and you will be told 'no', but just keep persevering because there is light at the end of the tunnel.
How do we see this child developing in 10 years time.
How do we see that child progressing into an adult?
So let's look at what we can put realistically into place to develop their social communication,
social interaction and social imagination.
How they can be an adjusted social being in our society
but with recognition that they have their own individuality.
"I now work for Autistica.
I'm in their policy team.
We kind of take the research that's going on, that we're funding
and translate that into key messages and briefings for decision makers and policy makers.
In particular, I lead a new coalition that we launched in May,
called Embracing Complexity, which is a coalition of around 40 neurodevelopmental charities,
working together to think differently about people with neurodevelopmental conditions.
"Good afternoon Autistica, Georgia speaking. How can I help?".
So yeah, my job is kind of trying to keep all those charities in touch with each other
and get in touch with new members and all of that,
Yeah I feel like I've learned a lot from doing it and I'm really enjoying it."
"When I'm older, I'd like to stay on at school
and do maybe some A levels and go to university definitely.
I want to go to university and study drama and film, that's my dream.