You are born with autism, you do not develop it as you grow and mature. It is a neurological condition, meaning the autistic brain is built in a different way to a neurotypical brain (those that don’t have autism).
Autism is neither a Learning Disability or a Mental Health Condition, so sometimes people on the spectrum can struggle to find a place to ‘fit’ that suits them and how they feel and experience the world.
Autism cannot be ‘cured’ or treated with medication. You can’t catch autism, and you can’t develop autism after receiving a medical treatment, such as an immunisation.
Autism is a spectrum condition, meaning that all autistic people share certain difficulties, but these difficulties will affect each individual in a different way to the next. Some people refer to autism as Autistic Spectrum Disorder.
Try to think of the autistic spectrum as the biggest rainbow in the universe, with billions of different colours, and all those colours are different. Each colour is like each person with autism, totally unique.
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The areas that autistic people can struggle to understand and experience in varying ways are:
Social communication and language
This includes, difficulty in understanding language, how people speak and sometimes what they mean. Examples of this include not understanding sarcasm, tone of voice, facial expressions, jokes and hand gestures.
You may say ‘It’s raining cats and dogs!’ – a person with autism may go to look out of the window, and be confused at seeing only water falling from the sky.
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These videos were created in partnership between the University of Leicester and Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust. They are hosted on an external provider so please be aware they may contain adverts.
Understanding social behaviour and expectations
There are lots of social behaviours that are expected of us on a daily basis, such as making eye contact during conversation and shaking hands with people you meet. Autistic people may struggle to understand these unspoken social rules and expectations and may need to have them explained to better aide understanding.
We are supposed to look people in the eye when speaking to them – but why? Who decided that rule – and when?
It is also apparently polite to shake someone’s hand, but again, why?
People without autism tend to learn these social ‘rules’ without thinking, but for someone with autism, they may need to have these things explained to better understand.
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These videos were created in partnership between the University of Leicester and Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust. They are hosted on an external provider so please be aware they may contain adverts.
Understanding relationships with people
Every interaction with another person can potentially cause confusion and worry, even with people that are loved, familiar and trusted. What is a natural process for many can cause stress and uncertainty, as barriers and expectations aren’t clear.
Sensory experiences
Autistic people can experience a mix of high sensitivity and low sensitivity to things such as touch, smell, taste, sight, sound and unexpected bodily touching (such as someone accidently bumping into you).
Every person experiences things in their own way, people can experience a mixture of sensitivities which can affect them in different ways. Sensory issues can be sometimes be overwhelming and stressful for autistic people, which can leave them feeling confused about what they are feeling.
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These videos were created in partnership between the University of Leicester and Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust. They are hosted on an external provider so please be aware they may contain adverts.
Special interests
Autistic people can develop lifelong, and/or short-term interests in things that others may class as a hobby.
These special interests are often things that require greater involvement; autistic people will often dedicate themselves to learn everything they can about their chosen topic. This could be something mainstream, such as Star Wars Films or Dr Who, or it could be something perceived as obscure, such as Norwegian Folk Music or Victorian Drain covers.
It can be difficult for autistic people to understand why others don’t share their interests, which can mean others do not want to take part or learn about the interest.
Processing information differences
Autistic people’s brains work in a slightly different way to neurotypical brains. This could mean some autistic people may process information slightly slower than others, and take more time to break down information and formulate a response.
It is important to make sure that you give autistic people the time to absorb information and respond if they need it. This can mean asking a question more than once to an autistic person can potentially be stressful and frustrating for them, as the processing time would have to restart.
Autism is a spectrum condition, no two people are the same, every person and their experiences will be different.
