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“I am strong because I’ve lived life as an individual on the Spectrum who, without a diagnosis, has never understood why they’re different. I am strong because I have learned how to manage my differences without even realising that’s what I’m doing.

“I am strong because even though the people around me have never understood why I am who I am, who have always tried to have me be ‘normal’, I have remained who I am. I never changed myself to suit them, even when that meant I was ostracised by others my age.”

Playing with children is important. Playing together builds strong relationships, by adding joy, vitality, and resilience.

Go ahead and let your inner child run free! Put your phone away, be present when playing - swing on the swings, go on the seesaw, laugh and have fun!

There is great comfort in the known, yet the deepest growth comes from facing the unknown. We are wired to seek comfort and solitude in the familiar, and yet on the other hand we crave excitement and adventure. So how can we balance between the two?

The media are the portrayers of that which most cannot see and thus may they be educators and advocators of empathy and comprehension of that which hitherto may have been incomprehensible. Documentaries are the most earnest of portrayers for often are they made by those who wish yearningly to show to the world that which they think should be seen and understood.

And I suppose that, in this idea of representation, I simply desire for myself that the stories should be about people on the Spectrum and not about the ideas that others have for whom it is that these people are..

When I first went to the house of this boy, so truthfully was I aware of the stress that he enticed. The processes of alienation were manifested from the ancient abode of the Amygdala and I could not choose to hold any willed barriers against it. But I yet chose to believe that this stress was for someone I did not understand and that I should try only to learn to understand him.

The most aggrieved victim of my prejudgement has been my own self. I have behaved towards myself with intolerance and impatience once upon a time. I have feared those areas of myself that were unknown to me, for Autism was an area of myself that I never departed to explore. But there came a time of discovery and I found ownership with myself. And thus, I know the processes of prejudice in myself and I know the good that can come from its confrontation.

Most of that which exists from the past does so exist in books. Authors have romanticised this and glorified that and though the inhumanity of our misdeeds and mistreatment of one another thus may be relayed to us explicitly, not so explicitly will be relayed the asininity of our species.

But we now do live in the digital age. In modern history, there is no means to conceal the imbecility that is innate to us. There is no romanticisation nor glorification – there is only the icky and yucky wound of this year, 2020.

(…) I can say that I am Autistic, and from those who are learned on that identifier, and who know what my needs may be by their awareness on Autism, there is empathy. Autism is a neurological disorder for which there does exist patternicity and symptoms, and wherefor exists a likelihood for study and learnedness. I thus can say, I am Autistic, or, I am a person with Autism, and by what awareness others have about Autism, I can be given help and insight from my fellowship of friends.

(…) The title of “Volunteer Coordinator” had to Miss O’Donnell as much meaning as the title “Support Officer” has for me – and that is not too much meaning at-all. Such titles only simplify roles that possess in themselves a far greater richdom of meaning. It is for Miss O’Donnell a meaningful quest to believe that folks are empowered to find their own sense of meaning in the time that they give to their fellows and the bonds that do form therefrom, and also from the awareness that there is a tiddling of hope and tad of worth that anyone can offer.

(…) the varied assortment of unnameable tasks that Nelle can defer to others are thus surely deferred to me. In doing such, it is thus feasible for her effort to be allocated more thoroughly to her offered consultation. I, as well as others in our team, are a basis wherefrom she can be kept standing to serve people.

But it is not strictly Nelle that I am helping. Help is offered to myself in what knowledge I can glean. And help is offered to others as Nelle employs the abilities of her team as a service to those who come to us. It is the format of this help and the principles embedded on its circumference wherefrom I can define, for the inquisitive, what I do, why I do it, and the depth of its meaning.

What does it take to get a young person with Autism out of bed?

What does it take to get them up and out into a world that rarely sees or understands them? What kind of mental toll does this place on them? What kind of burdens do they have to take on? What does it mean for them to find triumph, and how do they overcome challenges and defeats?