https://www.facebook.com/CPC-Blue-Collab-World-Autism-Awareness-1696287803958063/

I decided to join the Autism Awareness collaboration as my eldest child has autism. Getting a diagnosis was difficult, never mind gathering the strength to first of all reach out and say ‘there is something going on here’. My son is high functioning and started to question why he was different at just 5 years old. Receiving a diagnosis has been difficult but also heaven sent for my son, who now accepts he is different, but in a positive way, his latest catch phrase is ‘different not less’ and he is beginning to understand autism is his difference in approach rather than a restraint, binding him from his future goals.
My piece is based upon two different aspects or views of autism; how people view my son, including things that have been said to us or about us, down one side compared to my perceived reality of what autism is like for my son.
The first side shows a relaxed child sitting a test, calmly looking ahead as most people would see my son, surrounded by all the presumptions, opinions and misunderstandings about autism that we have endured.
The second side shows all the thought processes going on through my son’s head including aspects of autism that challenge him, sensitivity to noise, worries about his eyes and eye contact, obsession with time and wheels, the struggle with faces and emotions and some of his own personal obsessions such as minecraft and the huge importance of justice and good always triumphing over evil. His face is contorted in frustration, concentration and in a state of confusion – he hates tests, by putting a time limit on something prevents him from concentrating whatsoever.