On Monday 29 April, we held a Home Clothes event to mark Autism Acceptance Month. Pupils and staff were encouraged to wear red, and helped to raise over £320 for the National Autistic Society.

In Chapel, Echo A (Year 13) gave a talk on their personal experiences as a person with autism.

Hi, my name is Echo, and I am here to give a talk for Autism Acceptance Month. I think one thing that’s important to point out first is that I can only offer my own perspective. Autism affects everybody differently, and it is important to be understanding that everyone, autistic or not, has different thoughts and views, and that’s ok.

I think a lot of people have misconceptions, usually to two extremes, such as that autism is either a tragedy, or a superpower. For many people, such as myself, it is neither. I cannot count how many times I have been told that I cannot possibly be autistic because their five-year-old autistic nephew is nothing like me. But why would we be similar? I’m not a five-year-old boy.

Another misconception is overusing the label of “neurodivergent”. I hear this used a lot by people instead of calling me autistic because they do not feel comfortable calling me autistic, if I do not fit in their stereotypical view of autism. Yes, I am neurodivergent, but it is not a synonym for autism. It is such a broad term, it is not at all descriptive in how I experience the world specifically due to being autistic. It feels very confusing to me having others euphemise my diagnosis, since it does affect everything in my life, however there shouldn’t be anything wrong with that.

Additionally, a common misconception people have is that the whole population is on the spectrum somewhere, and this is simply not true. This relies on the belief that the autism spectrum is linear from less to more autistic. What is true is that people may be able relate to certain experiences autistic people have from time to time, maybe they struggle with picky eating or find socialising a bit tiring. However, this does not mean that they are “a little bit autistic” as it is much more complex than this.

The last thing I think people should consider overall is being less judgemental to others. It is impossible to know what’s going on with everyone all the time. Maybe you see someone doing something “weird” that doesn’t negatively affect others, or you see someone taking longer than you to do something “simple”. Whether they are autistic or not, instead of making fun of them, choose to be kind, whether that is by offering to help, or even just not saying anything at all if it is not helpful, you can do the bare minimum to move towards a more accepting world for everyone. Thank you so much for listening.