This month’s meeting was well attended, and we were in for a very interesting and
inspiring talk.

Lucy asked the audience how many of them knew anyone with autism and not
surprisingly a large number of hands shot up and yet we do not have a very good
understanding of what autism actually is. It hasn’t suddenly become more common;
we are more aware of it especially after covid. There are 1 million individuals already
diagnosed and 236k waiting for assessment, taking on average 73 weeks. Autism
shows in different ways, behaviour, communication, processing what’s happening
around them and present themselves differently. Although born autistic, often doesn’t
appear until older: as they go to school, university, get married or even retire,
because their routine changes, which is hard for them to process.

Their traits present differently: not good in a busy environment, can hear, see and
feel too much which is exhausting and takes a while to recover. Have comfort in
routine. Special interests, typical is train spotting, art, birds etc. Can show too much
emotion or non. Flapping, swearing and clicking all involuntarily.

Girls often diagnosed later as they are better at social learning, ie watching others to
see how they behave, and their interests are more mainstream, such as pop groups,
hair, makeup and art. Lucy wasn’t diagnosed until she was 23, and that was after a
friend’s mother suggested it after watching her behaviour at an exhibition. Also, she
had struggled to cope with secondary education although being a high achiever and
a perfectionist and dropped out of Nottingham University due to trying to fit in with
the lectures and general university life. Lucy moved back home and had six jobs in
three years due to being burnt out with all of them. Although enjoyed the jobs it was
being with too many people.

After diagnosis and understanding how to manage, Lucy went to Lincoln University,
achieved a sports degree and is now a researcher and associate lecturer. And we all
agreed is an excellent speaker. Lucy also has time to be a professional cheerleader
with Team England and won a bronze in the World Championships. Apparently being
a cheerleader is a common sport for those with autism.

There are things we can all do to help individuals with autism: ask what we can do to
help support them, give clear communication and a greater time to process what you
want from them, if their routine is altered they need to be told sooner rather than
later, read about autism and most importantly be kind and understanding.