18th June marks the annual “Autistic Pride Day”. The aim of the day is to raise awareness for those people who are not on the Autistic spectrum to see that Autistic people do not require treatment but are unique individuals. Being Autistic is a form of neurodiversity, with all forms of neurodiversity most of the challenges come from other individual’s attitudes and lack of knowledge towards autism.
Autistic Pride Day was first celebrated in 2005 by Aspies of Freedom, 18th June was the chosen date as it was the birthday of the youngest group member at the time. Kabie Brook is the co-founder of Autism Rights group highland, and he stated that the most important thing to remember about the day is that it is an Autistic community event, and it originated, and is still led by Autistic people. It is not a day for other charities or organisations to promote themselves or stifle Autistic people.
The National Autistic Society is the UK’s leading charity for people who are on the Autism Spectrum and their families, they have been giving support since 1962, and campaigning to create a society that works for Autistic people. They help over 700,000 Autistic people within the UK and their families by running specialist schools and helping training companies be more Autism friendly, they are dedicated to helping Autistic people and changing attitudes towards Autism. In 2020 alone they helped to support 14,500 businesses to host 37,000 autism hours, opened a new Autism centre in Belfast and welcomed the first students to their new Vanguard School in London.
The National Autistic Society ran a campaign called The Employment Gap which called for the Government to show autism in its official employment statistics, this was because the National Autistic’s Society surveys suggested that less than a third of Autistic adults were in employment, while over three quarters of unemployed Autistic people wanted to work. After campaigning, the office of National Statistics published new data which shows that only 22% of Autistic adults are in any kind of employment. Here at Skillnet we are dedicated to helping others as part of our renewed commitment to Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion.
Every year organisations from across the globe celebrate Autistic pride day with a variety of events but you don’t need to have a huge event to show your support. Autistic Pride does not necessarily need to be in the form of a public event, you can show support by taking some time to research and gain some knowledge about Autism, or by taking a walk in the park with friends and talking about autism even something as simple as that can raise awareness, which is what is needed to show support.
In recognition of Autistic pride day below is an interview we had with Linzi Bradbury who is the mother of Frankie who is Autistic, she has kindly taken the time to give us her views and opinions on Autism and Autistic Pride Day.
Do you feel that enough people know about autism?
“I feel like they do, but I feel like a lot of people think that autism comes under one umbrella. Once you have met one Autistic person you realise how wide the spectrum actually is, everyone is different.”
Do you feel that Autistic people are given enough support in the workplace?
“Probably not, no, I think that companies do try to employ people without any disabilities so that the person is “ready to go”, however it does depend on the job role itself. Although saying that a lot of companies do try to be diverse and accepting of people with different needs, so I just think it depends on the company”.
Have you yourself come across any negativity towards autism?
“Yes, I have, it is more towards when we go out places people think that an Autistic person is rude or naughty, so it is more about people being educated and having awareness. Not every individual is the same whether they have autism or not. I think that there should be more awareness about autism and people should be more understanding.”
Before being a parent of an Autistic person did you yourself know anything about it?
“I tarred it with the same brush, I just thought autism was just autism and everyone who has it was the same. I was very naive and thought it was just about having routines. There is so much more to autism than that.”
Do you think it’s a good idea if businesses brought more attention to autism within the workplace?
“Yes, I think so especially if their colleagues are unaware of autism, however I don’t think they should be singled out and made to feel any different because that is all they know. I think that it should maybe be down to the individual if they feel like they want to share with other people. So really it could be the case of asking the individual how they feel and what they want and need. As I said before the needs are different for every Autistic person.”
From your point of view what should be done to help Autistic people within the community/workplace?
“More awareness raised within individual communities, there are big things such as the National Autistic Society, but I think until it happens to you then you choose not to educate yourself on things that don’t affect you. Maybe we should just all take the time to be a bit more understanding and learn something new.”
What more can we do to assist Autistic applicants when applying for an apprenticeship, and what more can we do when they’re on an apprenticeship?
“I think u need to ask the individual as I said before not every Autistic person is the same. Ask them if they need help or if they need more assistance, as every Autistic person has different needs. I couldn’t just say do one specific thing and this will help as, what helps one person may not help another. I think communication is key.”
Disability does not discriminate, so why should we!
Paddy and Christine McGuinness have three children, all of whom have been diagnosed with autism are working on a new BBC documentary about raising children with autism. Paddy explained: “For me as parent who has children with additional needs, you feel, a little bit, that everyone else is having a really good time apart from me. When I see other people in the same situation or people, in a weird and perverse way, worse off than you, you kind of feel, ‘Oh well, at least I’m not dealing with that’. Weirdly it makes you feel a little bit better or that I’m not on my own with this.”
The Take Me Out host said that he hoped filming the documentary would allow people to see that they shouldn’t be embarrassed about asking for help.
“[People think] ‘He’s on telly and got money… so he shouldn’t have those sorts of worries’, but I do.”