When I went to Mencap last week,
I was paired with a young boy named S. He has quite severe Autism, and is
unable to talk, although he does understand when spoken to. He likes to sing
and to listen to things. I
realised as I was playing with him that actually I knew next to nothing about
Autism, so I decided to do a little research into his condition. I already knew
that there was a link between Asperger’s Syndrome and Autism, but very little
else.
According to the
national autistic society “Autism is a lifelong developmental disability that affects how a person
communicates with, and relates to, other people. It also affects how they make
sense of the world around them.” They go on to talk about the Autism spectrum –
how there is no binary condition, but how it can vary in severity. Some people
may have autism, and behave perfectly normally, whereas others may have to
depend on carers for the rest of their lives. Autism affects around 1% of the
population and has an effect on three main areas of social life – social
communication, interaction and imagination.
One sub-division with autism is Aspergers. This is where the
individual has all of the symptoms of autism but is often without the learning
difficulties or speech difficulties. People with Aspergers syndrome often have
a higher or an average IQ score – if any of you watched the TV series Sherlock,
he is supposed to have Aspergers.
Autism can result in several things. These include hyper or
hypo sensitivity, where an individual responds less to some senses, and more to
others, special interests in one particular subject, such as art or music, a
“love of routines” where someone might not be able to function if things do not
happen as they normally do, and learning difficulties. Learning difficulties is
not linked only to school, though there are links to learning disabilities such
as dyslexia and dyspraxia, but also to life – some individuals might struggle
to learn to perform basic domestic chores like washing or cooking.
There are no cures for autism. It is a lifelong disability.
As for causes, not much is known at the moment. There is evidence to support
the ideas that it may emerge as the result of a physical problem, and other
research which maintains that it has a genetic base. The idea behind it being
genetic is that “Most people with autism are probably genetically quite unique,
each having their own genetic form of autism”, and that it is the genetic
variation which is similar in each individual.
The West Berkshire Mencap is supported by a government fund,
which enables all of these wonderful children to get some support and have some
fun. It runs play schemes and holiday sessions which enable. However, the fund had recently been considered for cuts. I'd really appreciate it if anyone who reads this could follow the link below and sign to say that they don't support this. Thanks
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