|
St. Thomas à Becket Foundation |
|
|
making a
difference |
|
|
“Freak! Wiedo! Nerd!” These are some of the
names Richard has been called throughout his life.
When Richard was diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome
(AS), shortly after his 50th birthday in
2006, his initial reaction was ‘Now you tell me!’
However, on reflection he found the diagnosis both
helpful and illuminating. It explained
a great deal. |
 |
It
explained why he had been such an ‘odd’ child; why
he had always had such difficulty forming and
keeping friendships; why he had had such terrible
difficulty finding and keeping jobs; and why he had
never managed to find a partner to share life’s
burdens.
People on the autism spectrum – people like Richard
that is– have problems with social communication and
interaction. They tend to be obsessive and
ritualistic in their behaviour, and lack empathy and
imagination – although some can have more of those
characteristics than others.
|
|
Many are often labelled as
typical ‘nerds’, in that they are enthusiastic
collectors of stamps,train-spotters, etc. |
 |
Richard sees
people like himself as being similar to Mr Spock in
Star Trek,
in that “we are very literal-minded, and have
difficulty comprehending
metaphors and other figures of speech.
We cannot read faces, or
understand gestures, tones of voice, or other
non-verbal forms of communication in the way that
most people can. |
 |
 |
|
“This makes life very
difficult indeed,
as you may well imagine. |
Thankfully, some of us
are better off than
others –
those of us on the
‘higher functioning’
end of the spectrum –
but even so we are still
handicapped with respect
to things like the
job market, and few of
us are in
gainful employment. |
|
|
|
“AS
can leave one pretty lonely and isolated a lot
of the time, and that can lead to depression, so
I, like many others,
am in need of support and the friendship of
understanding and tolerant people, willing and
able to put up
with my occasional social and interpersonal
faux-pas. |
|
“Thankfully, there are
organisations around to help us, quite apart
from the NHS
and social services – |
 |
The National
Autistic Society and the
St Thomas a Becket Foundation are two.
I have been very glad of the support I’ve had
from the latter!” |
 |
|
Why did God make
Richard so different? I don’t know. |
 |
Why does God
allow children to be born with muscular dystrophy,
or cystic fibrosis? I can’t answer that one, either.
But I cling to the belief that ‘God is love’, and
that God has a purpose for Richard’s life and for
all our lives, and that God made Richard this way
because that was what God wanted.
With this knowledge Richard accepts the way he is.
As he declared “Yes I am different, but
"Vive la différence!” |
 |
|
