Category: Personal Story

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Additional Needs and Disabilities News Personal Story SEND Social Stigma

Our Preferred Terminology

Three young people are decorating a notice board. Text reads Surrey Youth Voice. Join Us. There are cartoon images of young people around the board.

Note: you can download all the chapter pdfs at the bottom of this blog!

Contents

  1. Contents
  2. Introduction and context
  3. How this chapter works
  4. Guide to the rating system
  5. Preferred Terminology Examples
    1. 1. Use the term Additional Needs and Disabilities instead of Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND)
    2. 2. Use the term Specialist Schools instead of Special Schools.
    3. 3. Do not use descriptive terms like high or low functioning.
    4. 4. Use the word Disability.
  6. Report Chapters

Introduction and context

ATLAS aims to bring about positive change for people with additional needs and disabilities. A priority for us as ATLAS members is to actively tackle ableism, stigma, and discrimination in the work that they do. An essential part of this includes raising awareness around the power of language, especially the language used to define disability.

When talking about language, it is important to understand the power of language itself. How language shapes society, culture, the way we see groups of people and even how we see ourselves.

Language can, and does, shape and influence our reality. In this report, we focus on how language can spread ableism, stigma and discrimination.

Aiming to increase the use of language that people with additional needs and disabilities use to self-describe and identify in personal and professional settings.

How this chapter works

We felt that presenting just a list of words would not be enough to help professionals, services and the public understand the importance of language in their everyday lives.

Guide to the rating system

When we were discussing in group sessions how to indicate whether words should not be used, should be used with caution or are okay to use, we initially discussed using a traffic light system. However, it was found that some words can be more (or less) appropriate in different situations.

Therefore, in this report we categorise words using an adapted RAG (Red, Amber, Green) rating system: red words, red-orange words, orange words, orange-green words, or green words. ATLAS recommendations for each of these categories are listed in Table 1.

“The point of orange is that if the disabled person uses it themselves, that’s one thing, but if you use if for them it’s not ok. Ask first”

-ATLAS member

Please remember that this guide should not be used to overwrite the lived experiences of others. We would always encourage professionals to communicate with the people they work with and use the language that they self-identify and describe themselves with, even if that differs from the language suggestions we provided here. If in doubt, ask.

CategoryATLAS Recommendation
RedWe recommend that red words are not used because
they are harmful and may be offensive. We believe
these words spread ableism, stigma, and
discrimination
Red-OrangeWe recommend that red-orange words are not used to
talk about all young people with additional needs and
disabilities. However, some individuals may prefer this
language, or the word may be deeply entrenched into a
system that will need time to adapt its language.
OrangeWe recommend that orange words are not used without
the permission of the young person(s) with additional
needs and disabilities that you are talking to or about.
Orange-GreenWe recommend that you are careful when using these
words as whether or not they are appropriate to used
may vary depending on the person or group you are
talking or referring to. A majority of people may have
no problem with these words, however there will be
people who prefer to self-describe differently.
GreenWe would like to encourage you to use green words.
These words are used by us ATLAS members to self describe and identify.
Table 1- ATLAS language recommendations for each word category.

Preferred Terminology Examples

1. Use the term Additional Needs and Disabilities instead of Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND)

“We don’t like to be called special.”

-ATLAS Member

“[Special] is a euphemism. The way that it works with euphemisms is that they’ll put a euphemism on a term that is regarded badly by society. But unless you change the underlying attitude then the new word will just become a bad word in itself.”

-ATLAS Member

During ATLAS sessions we discussed how people wouldn’t be able to immediately stop using some of the acronyms with the word “special” because the term “special” is used nationally for young people with additional needs and disabilities. This includes the acronyms SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities), SEN (Special Educational Needs) and SENCo (Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator).

Therefore, we have allocated a red-orange rating: it is ok to use for now, however we would like to encourage professionals to start moving away from terms that contain the euphemism ‘special’.

SEND, SEN, and SENCo are red-orange terms.

Not only do these acronyms include the word special, but they also relate someone’s needs directly to an educational setting. We want these terms changed to remove the ‘educational’ component from the descriptor.

“It is not just in school but out in society.”

-ATLAS Member
Additional needs and disabilities is a green term.

Instead, we would like the term additional needs and disabilities to be used. We also recommend asking the young people that you work with what words they would like to replace these terms.

2. Use the term Specialist Schools instead of Special Schools.

“I tend to use the term specialist when talking about schools instead of special. They are targeted for a specific thing, so they are specialist, not special.”

-ATLAS Member

The term special school is used to describe a school that is for children or young people with additional needs and disabilities.

Special school(s) is a red term.
Specialist school(S) is a green term.

3. Do not use descriptive terms like high or low functioning.

Descriptive terms are words or phrases that are used to further define a diagnosis. During ATLAS we raised that these words are often used to place people with additional needs and disabilities onto a linear scale.

“No-one is in a box, no-one is linear.”

-ATLAS Member

There are two examples in particular that ATLAS recommends people stop using and that is high and low functioning or cognitive functioning.

The terms high or low functioning are rated as red.

“People find high functioning and low functioning very offensive.”

-ATLAS Member
The term low cognitive functioning is rated as red.

“I would say I would be called low functioning. It separates disabled people. I’d say it would make people feel different and not in a good way. You’re making another minority.”

-ATLAS Member

Disability is fluid and therefore viewing the needs of disabled people in a linear way does not reflect reality. Having such a restrictive label attached to us can be very limiting in the way we are then treated. As disabled people we can have different abilities to cope at different times, however we can end up being defined by how we were able to cope in a specific moment and/or environment during an assessment. This means that the assessment results may not be applicable to our lived experience as a whole and is not always reflective of how we may respond in a different situation.

“They always think I’m needy or that I don’t need any adaptions, when I’m in the middle and have a spiky profile.”

-ATLAS Member

“A spiky profile is so so so common in neurodivergency as well. That being, having different levels of support needs in different areas.”

-ATLAS Member

“Everyone around me assumes that I am not able to do things. Whereas I can’t do some things some days, but I can other days. Phone calls are difficult for me because I am a selective mute. In person I can write a note.”

-ATLAS Member

“Some people at my Uni use high or low support needs instead.”

-ATLAS Member

4. Use the word Disability.

Disability is a word that is widely accepted by the disabled community as the word that the community identifies with and wishes to be used to describe them. In ATLAS we identified the following reasons why young people might not use the word disability to self-describe and identify:

  • Due to ableism, stigma and discrimination, some of us felt differently about the word disability.
  • In ATLAS we also recognised that until society is more inclusive, the needs of disabled people will be seen as additional to the ‘norm’. Therefore, ATLAS felt that at this point in time, they could not categorise the word disability as a green word.
Disability is a green-orange word.

When professionals are working directly with young people with additional needs and disabilities, ATLAS would like them to ask those young people how they self-describe and identify, then use that language.

Importantly, when you are talking about or to the community as a whole or are referring to additional needs and disabilities in general, you must include the word disability, so that you are not excluding people or promoting stigma and discrimination through omission.

“Some people have reclaimed ‘disabled’ – some people have reclaimed, some not.”

-ATLAS Member

“Everyone identifies with Disability differently. Some Deaf and Blind people don’t consider themselves disabled. But for me I am chronically ill, so it doesn’t matter where you put me, I’m still in pain all the time.”

-ATLAS Member

Remember,

“Disability is not a bad word.”

-ATLAS Member

ATLAS would like to see a future where people are not uncomfortable or afraid to identify as disabled.

Report Chapters

Chapter 1 ATLAS- Who Are WeDownload
Chapter 2 ATLAS – Our Preferred TerminologyDownload
Chapter 3 ATLAS – Personal Testimonies of Ableism, Stigma and DiscriminationDownload
Chapter 4 ATLAS – The Power of Language Case Study – ATLAS MemberDownload
Chapter 5 ATLAS – Person-First vs Identity-First Language Emma AdsettDownload
Chapter 6 ATLAS – Using Language to Create Safe Spaces for Disabled People – Rowan FosterDownload
Categories
Additional Needs and Disabilities Autism Celebrities influencer Inspirational People Media Neurodiversity Personal Story Self-Description SEND

The Importance of Autistic Girl Influencers

I often feel that once you have the diagnosis you aren’t helped to discover what things are related to autism or not, which makes it hard to accept or understand yourself.

Watching Paige’s videos has allowed me to go “oh, maybe that’s why I do this” and “its not just me” which goes a long way in actually understanding your feelings and feeling more at peace.

Paige has autism and anxiety and spreads awareness on social media. She does a lot of stuff about autism in girls. Which I found is something that I’ve struggled a bit with because sometimes I don’t feel like I fit in. I haven’t really told anyone, but I worry that people won’t believe me saying that I have autism because I don’t feel that I fit in some of the stereotypes of autism and everything that I’ve read and seen online.

I haven’t seen anything that really reflects what it’s like for me. I don’t know just feel a bit less alone with Paige’s content, just from seeing that other people may be struggling with the same kind of things.

I think that having some influencers with different diagnosis’ that young people can relate to is so important and would really help a lot of people.

Below I have listed some of Paige’s content that helped me.

Autism traits in girls

Paige Layle YouTube video on 10 Autism Traits in Girls (:

Autism stereotypes

@paigelayle

you’re not autistic. #fyp #foryou #autism

♬ original sound – paigelayle
Paige Layle’s Tik Tok Video on Autism Sterotypes

Awareness and information about autism in Girls

There are 4 parts, below they are in order from 1-4.

@paigelayle

learn more about autism! 🙂 i get many questions every day to make more vids about it, i will continue to show you guys! #feature #fup #fyp #featureme

♬ original sound – paigelayle
Paige Layle’s Autism in Girls part 1
@paigelayle

no such thing as high/ low functioning autism!!! it’s just how YOU perceive us. not about how we’re affected. #feature #featureme #fup #fyp

♬ original sound – paigelayle
Paige Layle’s Autism in Girls part 2
@paigelayle

more on special interests later ☺️ #feature #autism #fyp #fyp #featureme

♬ original sound – paigelayle
Paige Layle’s Autism in Girls part 3
@paigelayle

ahhh masking. can’t live with you, can’t live without you. #feature #fup #fyp #featureme #autism

♬ original sound – paigelayle
Paige Layle’s Autism in Girls part 4
Categories
Additional Needs and Disabilities Autism Neurodiversity Personal Story SEND Work

Autism Acceptance

A white hand reaches up to pull a book off a shelf packed full of other books.

You probably know a bit about what autism means, but here’s a quick recap.

Autistic people all struggle with communication, socialising, and flexible thinking. Many of us also have problems with sensory processing, self-regulation, and “meltdowns” or other catastrophic reactions.

It’s a “spectrum” condition, which means that different people are affected differently. Some of us can live fairly independently, and others can’t. Some can drive but not catch the bus, others can catch the bus but not drive. A popular phrase is “if you’ve met one autistic person, you’ve met one autistic person”. Very few things apply to all of us.

It’s a lifelong condition and in most cases, we don’t know what causes it. It’s likely to be partly, but not completely, genetics.

There are around 700,000 autistic people in the UK and about 12,000 in Surrey.

Here’s my attempt at an autism acceptance month blog post. It’s in the second person because that’s the easiest way for me to write, and it’s not perfect because I’ve learned that it’s much cooler to do things imperfectly than to not do them at all.

April was Autism Acceptance Month.

You used to think that if you ever wanted to not be autistic anymore, you’d just not tell people. You didn’t have to be autistic if you didn’t want to be.

You’ve now come to the conclusion that’s not how it works. Your common sense and life skills are slowly improving as you work on them, but you’ll always be obviously different. 

And you need to accept that so that you can learn ways to cope and to change the world around you to be more okay. So you can live.

It goes something like this:

You have to go upstairs.

To begin with, in the back corner of the library, you need to type a number into a keypad next to a door, then push the door open and step inside.

First, you notice the warm wind hitting your face. Then it’s the overpowering smells. Next is the clutter and the obstacles, followed by the buzzing and echoing and kitchen and machinery noises. The harsh lighting isn’t helping.

You now need to make it through the corridor and type a different number into a keypad on the other side.

You can’t shut your eyes because the obstacles change multiple times a day. You can’t put your hands over your ears because you need to type in the number. You also can’t go back if you panic too much because the first door locks behind you and requires a code again. The only thing you can do to make it better is to hold your breath.

If you make it through the second door, you’ll notice the loudest, most painful and overpowering buzzing noise in the building. If you’re lucky, the smell won’t have travelled too much into here – either way, you have to breathe now. The lights are distracting and bright and different. One of the circular lights on the wall, about halfway up the stairs, is where the buzzing noise is coming from – it’s easy to spot because it’s a different colour from the rest. The square lights are mesmerising and unreachable. 

The next problem is of course the stairs. There’s nothing between you and the ground except a small railing, and it’s terrifying and dizzying and you’re terrified you’ll die. You also have to walk right next to the loud light, and almost within touching distance of the square lights.

I usually just get the lift, even though it’s much slower. 

But if you’ve made it up the stairs, you’ve made it through the worst. There’s still another keypad and some automatic lights to contend with, but that’s nothing compared to everything else.

Hot chocolate is upstairs, and so is Solar your weighted sloth. Your best work friend is probably hotdesking in the office, and you can see the town square from the windows. Upstairs will be okay.

Or this:

It’s 9:00. You’ve turned on the lights and computers on your way in, and you’re drinking your hot chocolate and playing Animal Crossing. The library doesn’t open for another half an hour, but you’re in a shared building and plenty is going on already.

It’s 09:20. Your colleague’s not here yet. No biggie: they don’t start for another 10 minutes. They’re probably fine. Normal people aren’t an hour early to work. And you don’t start until 10, so really it’s not your business. You might put the money in the tills and do a quick walk-round check to make things easier for them.

It’s 09:25. They’re not here yet. This is normal and okay. You move your things to be not visible from the public area and go sit in the office and stay calm because they’ll be here.

It’s 09:27. They’re not here, which is fine because they still have 3 minutes, and you’re not going to panic.

It’s 09:28. You check the timetable to make sure it’s the right day and the right branch and the right staff and the right time. It is. Of course it is. It’s fine. 

It’s 09:29. You will not cry. Everything will be fine. They’ll be here. You’ve pretty much forgotten Animal Crossing at this point in favour of calm grounding exercises. Your eyes are stinging with the tears you said you wouldn’t cry.

It’s 09:29:30. What if they’re dead? But you can’t think that! Because they’re probably fine! They’re always fine! Everything is fine! Normal people don’t panic! You’re not panicking!

It‘s 09:29:45. The library opens in 15 seconds. What are you going to do? Probably open the library. But you start at 10 and know you won’t be paid for the extra half-hour because you shouldn’t be here, and what if there’s a bus pass and what if you have to close again immediately and be sent to another branch and what if they’re lost or dead or injured or maybe they’re panicking!

It’s 09:30. You open the library. You do not cry or panic. One of the regulars comments “You on your tod again today?”. Yes. Yes, you are. No one has an urgent problem, so you stand by the window looking out for your colleague.

At 09:31 you phone the big branch to ask if everything’s alright and if your colleague’s called in sick. They haven’t. The big branch is busy and they don’t have time for this right now. Your colleague must have gotten in trouble on their way to work. Some kind of accident or injury or something. They’re probably dead. Maybe you shouldn’t have opened the library. Maybe you should do the book drop. Maybe you’ll be lone working all day. Should you tweet that you’re closing for lunch?

At 09:32:18 your colleague arrives. “Traffic”.

…at 10:00 you officially start work, so by 09:57 you manage to convince yourself you’ll be okay. 

You’ll be okay.

Or even this…

You can’t think through noises.

You can’t figure out how to use your phone.

It’s too loud.

Everything is too loud.

Your head is on the ground and the floor is hard and cold and you’re trying to think.

You remember you’re not supposed to bite the inside of your cheek, so you bite your tongue instead.

The floor isn’t cold enough.

You need to feel more pressure maybe.

You can’t breathe.

You hug yourself and scrunch up your eyes and you can’t think.

You can’t think.

…

You bite through the inside of your cheek.

…

An hour later there are noises and people and you need them to stop and you can’t talk.

You can’t talk.

You need a cup of water and your sunglasses and ear defenders and lip balm and weighted mammoth.

You can’t understand what they’re saying.

…

You need them to not be touching you!

…

You need them to stop touching you!

You can’t think through people touching you.

…

Water.

Ear defenders.

Monty the mammoth.

Be calm.

…

You sit calmly. You do your grounding exercises. You hold your mammoth. You drink your water. You will be okay.

…

You’re sorry. It was all too much. You don’t want it to happen again. You’ll say something before it happens next time. There won’t be a next time. You’re fine. This is rare. You’re doing well.

(There will be a next time).


The reason you have a day off in between every workday is because autism is exhausting.

It’s exhausting even without getting into the fact that other people are different and alien and don’t make any sense.

But the library is one of the good parts.

For £10.35 an hour (£9.50 on weekends), you run a library and you are happy.

You’d happily pay £10.35 an hour for the joy of it, but that’s possibly because you’re still not great at budgeting.

You have thousands of books. They’re your books.

You unpacked them and stamped them and gave them homes on your shelves, and you allow anyone to borrow them as long as they promise to bring them back in three weeks.

You help people with the computers.

You show them the simplest way to print a returns label, and offer them some children’s scissors and sticky tape so they can post their parcel on the way home.

You tell them that if their phone usually remembers their password for them, they can find it by going to Settings and then Passwords.

You help people travel the world with flight tickets and covid passes. People complain to you that “everything’s online these days,” but you think it’s sort of cool because that means you can help with everything.

You make bus passes.

“Smile as if you’re about to get on a bus!” is one of your catchphrases.

You’re a fountain of bus knowledge. You know about the secret buses on Saturdays, which companies let you use your pass before 9.30, and the best places to make connections.

You run amazing events.

You have about as much patience as the children, so you have a great instinct for when to abridge a book or song at Rhymetime. Your current favourite book is Superworm, and you skip over the entire plot in favour of just reading about how great the worm is.

The regular kids think Wiggly Woo is a snail song, The Wheels on the Bus is about dinosaurs, and Sleeping Bunnies can be sung about any animal, including snakes. Their grown-ups can now predict the punchline to every new joke you invent, and you know which ones to look to for help when you lose count in Five Little Ducks.

You even make library cards and amaze people with the services we have to offer.

“Children’s books can be reserved for free on a child’s library card, which means that if there’s a book you want to read but we don’t have it here, then if another library in Surrey or Essex or half of London has it, we can bring it here for you to borrow as if it was one of our books!”

You also make sure everyone gets a sticker for joining, and a sticker for using the self-service machine for the first time.

Libraries and chocolate milk are two of your favourite things in the world, and from your perspective, sitting in your library drinking chocolate milk means you grew up to be happy. You didn’t become an astronaut with several PhDs, and you don’t live in Paris with four pet rabbits, but you have libraries and chocolate milk and you’re happy.

You know now that you possibly can’t fix the whole world, but you can work in a library.


Things are good.

Things are good. 

One of my favourite ever library moments was when I was running Lego Club in Slough Library, and a couple of the parents of the kids who came from the local special school asked if I was autistic. We then had a great and open conversation, and one said that it was amazing having me run the club, because I gave them hope that their kids would grow up to be like me.

Honestly, at that moment I rather hoped their kids would grow up to struggle much less than me.

But that was more than two years ago now. Life’s got easier since then. I’ve grown to accept my autism, and I have more support to help me cope with the world. Things are good.

I’m only an expert on myself. Even then I don’t always have the greatest insight, so I’m not quite ready to give tips on how to fix the world to make things easier for all autistic people.

But here are a few things that help me:

Some random thoughts that might be useful:

One thing I dislike is when people with autism or learning disabilities are referred to as “individuals”. Or “the individual”. We don’t use that word when referring to anyone else, and it comes across as othering. However, there is a lot of disagreement between autistic people and those around them about language, so my preferences won’t reflect everyone.

My favourite thing a professional working with me has ever done is my current community nurse rephrasing questions if I say I don’t know the answer, even when he knows I should know. If it’s a question I’m not expecting, I can’t always find the right thoughts and turn them into words. Especially not while everyone’s looking at me. That’s why it’s also really useful to be able to have a friend or carer with me during appointments – they can often find the words I can’t.

Here are some of my favourite non-fiction autism books:

When you want a simple, easy-to-read metaphorical explanation:

When you want lots of practical ideas for helping autistic people in your life:

When you want a great book for an autistic pre-teen:

And my favourite quote:

In a world of autism myths, be an autism legend.

Thank you for reading!

Categories
Achievement Additional Needs and Disabilities Autism Bullying Celebrities Health Inspirational People Media Mental Health Neurodiversity News Personal Story Strongman

Tom Stoltman: The world’s strongest man and his Autism

Tom Stolotman holding a gol trophy and smiling at the camera. He is a white man with short curly hair and a beard. He has a scottish flag around his shoulders

“Autism is my secret weapon”.

Tom Stoltman standing on the podium after winning worlds strongest man 2022
Tom Stoltman after winning WSM 2022
Tom Stoltman with his 2021 trophy after winning his first worlds strongest man.
Tom Stoltman after winning WSM (world’s strongest man) 2021

Who is Tom Stoltman?:

Tom Stoltman is the current worlds strongest man after winning the competition in May 2022. He is also the:

  • 2021 Worlds Strongest man
  • World record holder for the heaviest Atlas stone ever lifted (286kg!),
  • A two-time back-to-back winner of Britain’s strongest man,
  • A two-time winner of Scotland’s strongest man along with many other incredible podiums such as 3rd in worlds ultimate strongman and 2nd in the 2021 giants live finals.

Tom was diagnosed with autism when he was 8 years old and has spoken about his own struggles inside and outside of school. He has mentioned being bullied and worrying about what people would think if they found out he was autistic.

Tom and Luke Stoltman competing and supporting each other during a competition.
Tom and, his brother, Luke Stoltman competing and cheering each other on

Tom’s Autism – in his own words.

“I kept autism hidden”

“I didn’t want my mates to laugh at me”

However, he mentions that after telling his friends and others about his autism he felt a tremendous amount of relief after being accepted and supported by them. His friends made sure that he knew they accepted him for who he was and that it didn’t change a thing about their friendship which is truly phenomenal.

Luke Stoltman (Tom’s brother) has also talked about Tom’s experiences and growing up with him when he was younger. Referencing times that Tom would really struggle, he says,

“if mum went out shopping, he (Tom) wouldn’t stop crying till she came back” and that “he wouldn’t go anywhere by himself”

Tom has said that he found it difficult when something didn’t go as planned, as he would become fearful and potentially breakdown. This also wasn’t helped when others would say that it didn’t matter, as this just made him feel very different to his friends and others.

Tom saw a great change in his life when he was first invited to go the gym by his older brother Luke as this was the start of an incredible ongoing career in the internationally competitive arena of ‘strongman’ for both. Tom found comfort in pushing himself in the gym as he mentioned he didn’t get along with the more traditional side of school such as maths and English, but he truly thrived when it came to Physical education and many other sports.

Tom and Luke Stoltman smiling and pointing at the trophy after winning the 2021 worlds strongest man competition.
Tom, and his brother, Luke Stoltman after Toms win at World’s strongest man 2021

What he has done for the awareness of autism–

Tom Stoltman has gone on many podcasts, interviews and has personally made videos on him and his brothers YouTube channel. Some of these are linked below. He has been quoted saying phenomenal things such as:

“Autism is my secret weapon” and that it should be

“Used as a superpower”, he has also talked about how that just because he is labelled that it doesn’t make him different. He strives to be an example to other autistic children and show them that they too will achieve incredible things.

Podcasts/ videos worth a watch:

World Autism Awareness Day – YouTube Tom Stoltman opens up about his experiences with autism and aims to spread awareness.

 Talking about autism! | Tom Stoltman – YouTube

  AUTISM IS A SUPERPOWER – YouTube Tom Stoltman

Links for support/education on accepting autism:

Autism Acceptance – Autism at Kingwood

Dont try to change autistic people, accept their differences. (autism.org.uk)

Information found from:

 Tom Stoltman – Wikipedia        World Autism Awareness Day – YouTube

Stoltman Brothers – YouTube    Talking about autism! | Tom Stoltman – YouTube

CNN: Tom Stoltman harnesses ‘superpower’ of autism to become the World’s Strongest Man – YouTube

Categories
Additional Needs and Disabilities Personal Story SEND Sensory Processing Disorder

Sensory Processing Disorder

Someone with blonde hair wearing a jumper looks towards the sun across a field. The Sun is very bright and shines across their shoulder, blurring some of the figure.

What is a sensory processing disorder?

Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) is an additional need and disability that affects how your brain processes your senses. It can affect all of the senses, sometimes all at once or sometimes individually.

How does SPD affect me?

It takes a while to process information and the things I do in day-to-day life. It can take me longer to do things because I am thinking about it constantly.

Some examples of things that are difficult:

  • Sound
    • It’s a struggle to find things that are not too loud.
    • Fire alarms are a very fast and loud sound that really hurts my ears. Ear defenders can help block out the sound – they are not for listening to music!
  • Touch
    • Some textures can be overwhelming.
    • I don’t like people to touch me without asking me beforehand unless it is an emergency.
  • Sight
    • Sunlight can be too bright!
    • Flashing lights can make it difficult for me to see and I can find that they are sensory overloading.
    • Smoke (Fire) – can’t see where you are going/irritates the eyes and makes them itchy.
  • Taste
    • I don’t like lumpy mash! How food feels in my mouth is really important. It can change over time what textures I like and those I don’t: I used to not like nuts but now I do!
    • I don’t drink squash at all now, I try to cut it out. Water on its own is good.
  • Smell
    • Nail varnish, petrol, and cigarettes are smells that are too strong. If they come close to me, I need to get away.
  • Other
    • Crowds can be claustrophobic as there is not much room: there is so many people around that you can’t move around properly.
    • New places and new people because there is lots of new information I have to process!

Even though I find some sensory experiences difficult, I also use sensory experiences to help myself and keep myself calm. Some things that I enjoy:

  • Sound
    • Classical Disney music, normally piano music because I find it a quiet, mindful sort of sound.
    • Nature sounds, especially quiet song birds.
  • Touch
    • Squishy Fidget toys and cuddly soft toys are very comforting, ground me, and help me to feel secure. Cuddly toys are really helpful when you need to go to sleep.
    • Blankets are really useful too. I like blankets to be smooth and soft to touch, dark blue in colour. I like blue when I am trying to sleep.
    • I like it when people I trust and know tuck me into bed, link arms with me, or sometimes give me a hug!
    • Petting my dog, Honey, can help me calm down quickly. Lots of people find pets helpful!
  • Sight
    • I like looking up at the stars in the sky at night. Which also helps me go to sleep because it is dark.
  • Taste
    • Soft and smooth textures – like when you are eating yoghurt.
  • Smell
    • The smell of homemade food, for example cauliflower cheese as well as chips. It is really comforting!
  • Temperature
    • I prefer cold temperatures, for example in sensory rooms where they are often normal to cold temperatures with a heater if you need it.

How you can support someone with SPD?

If they are struggling, you can:

  • Take them to a quiet room.
  • Help them find their fidget toys, or provide them with some.
  • Play some music that they enjoy.
  • Offer them a glass of water.
  • If they need you to, repeat information.
  • Do not judge them.
  • Do not stare at them.
  • Be patient and understanding.
  • Call their support person if they become non-verbal or give them something to write on.
Categories
Additional Needs and Disabilities Autism Neurodiversity Personal Story Safety Self-Care

My Meltdowns and Shutdowns

A young girl is sat crossed legged on a sofa playing with her small dog. She is wearing over ear headphones and her laptop is next to her.

Definitions

Meltdown – a response to an overwhelming situation that includes signs of distress.

Shutdown – where a person may withdraw from the people and environment around them. They may need their own space and time to process.

My Meltdowns

I don’t like meltdowns because when I used to have really big, long and bad meltdowns I used to say a lot of mean things, tell lies, say horrible things to others and myself.

Meltdowns make me look like I am refusing to do something or am reluctant to do something when I’m not – I’m in a meltdown.

I used to run off and hide, but I don’t do that anymore unless it is for a fun activity where people aren’t going to get worried. I used to also climb up trees and bushes to hide from people when I was having a meltdown, or hide underneath something, but I don’t do this anymore. I now cover my face with my hands, people understand I’m not hiding to be rude, I just need some alone time.

I don’t like to make people worried.

I like to walk, jog or run-in safe areas when I am having a meltdown to feel safe – I still do this.

Recently I have been having less meltdowns than I used to, which are also smaller than they used to be. I have been having a lot of shutdowns recently.

My Shutdowns

I have had a lot of shutdowns in the evenings since I finished college for summer holidays. In the last 7 weeks I have had a shutdown almost everyday.

During the summer holidays I have been going to a lot of clubs, and I have been having a lot of 10 to 40 minutes shutdowns at the clubs that I have been attending in the mornings and the afternoons. Sometimes I feel sorry for the staff who try to help me, but I also worry that they may call someone over and make it an incident.

A lot of people ask me if I am okay when I am having a shutdown, but I am not always able to answer, especially when I am really anxious. There have been a lot of transitions lately that are really busy and loud, which have not helped my anxiety. Some mornings I am too anxious to go into clubs and the staff I have good relationships with have to help me enter the site.

Some days I cry a lot when I am really anxious. People might worry because I might not seem like myself and then ask me a lot of questions at once about how I am and how I have been. Sometimes it can be overwhelming to talk about these things; sometimes I’m not ready to talk about it. When this happens, they might get into my personal space. I worry if people who don’t get tested regularly for Covid-19, get into my personal space.

Sometimes the behaviours of other children and young people at clubs and activities can cause me to be really anxious. Especially bad or violent behaviour.

When I am tired, I find things harder to do and possibly more overwhelming. This can make me cry and I don’t always immediately know what it is that has led to the problem.

How I manage overwhelming situations

Some of the ways I notice that I am becoming overwhelmed is when:

  • There are loud noises
  • There is a difficult situation
  • I see someone breaking the law or doing something dangerous
  • I get too hot
  • I am stressed

Some of the ways I look after myself when I am overwhelmed:

  • Weighted blankets/jackets
  • Fidget toys and chew toys
  • Sitting with my dog, she puts her paws on my lap
  • Going for walk
  • Writing stories
Categories
Additional Needs and Disabilities Anxiety Autism Health Learning Difficulties Mental Health Neurodiversity Personal Story SEND Sensory Processing Disorder

My Anxiety, ASD, and Me

Autism spelt out in scrabble tiles on a spotty background. The spots are different colours and the scrabble tiles are across the middle row, inside one dot each.

What is Anxiety?

Anxiety makes you more anxious and nervous. It is harder for you to talk about your feelings and emotions. Sometimes it is hard to talk about your thoughts and what you are thinking about.

When you’re anxious it is really hard to talk to people because you don’t know who to trust. With anxiety, I find it really hard to trust people.

Things that cause me anxiety

There are a lot of things that cause me anxiety. For example:

  • Meeting new people and seeing a new place.
  • Emergency services
    • Because hospitals and the emergency services are scary.
  • Emergency vehicles
    • For example, police, ambulance, fire engine, flashing lights.
  • Loud noises, alarms, vehicles, fireworks, thunder, heavy rain, wind, screaming and shouting.
  • Professionals knowing about my life and personal information and not knowing who will be told & who they may tell.
  • Changes.
    • Cancelling or changing appointments with little notice or no notice.
    • Changing schools.
      • Different primary and secondary school.
    • too many changes happening at once.
    • home schooling.
    • Moving to college and having to make new friends.
  • Negative things on social media.
  • The news.
    • particularly about covid.
  • Covid in general because you can’t see people and places.
  • The Dark.
    • I can’t see what is happening around me.
    • I can’t see what people are doing.
  • Fights and arguments because you don’t know what’s happening.
  • Small tight spaces: I feel stuck and scared.
  • People that are hurt or sad.
    • Sad knowing that my friends have anxiety and bad mental health.
    • My friends seeing me struggling.
  • Being adopted.
    • Not understanding the whole process.
    • Not meeting family members that I don’t know.
  • Scary times from the past: being threatened to be kidnapped as a kid.
  • Being touched
    • You don’t know if they’re going to hurt you or not.
  • Intrusive thoughts.
    • They can be hard to ignore.
  • Not understanding what my disabilities mean: Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Learning Difficulties, Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD), Anxiety, Sensory Issues.
    • Because I have SPD it takes me more time to process and understand information.
    • My meltdowns and shut-downs.
    • Sometimes I am non-verbal.

Managing anxiety

There are many coping strategies you can use to help with anxiety. I prefer some strategies to others. Ones that I like are:

  • Hugs (: This is a big one!
    • Hugs are great because they’re very soothing and relaxing.
    • I like the feeling of touch; it calms me down quite quickly.
    • I mainly like hugs from White Lodge staff.
  • Fidget Toys. Ones that I like include:
    • Stretchy bands.
      • When you stretch the bands, they help to relieve frustration.
    • Chew toys.
      • They help relieve the anger inside my mouth.
  • Exercise.
    • Walking and yoga.
      • Walking is really calming, and yoga really soothes you and makes you want to go to sleep.
    • The fresh air makes you happy.
  • Talking to people who I trust.
    • For example, staff at White Lodge.
  • Soft toys.
    • They’re nice to cuddle.
  • Adrenaline rush.
    • For example, from a roller coaster!
  • Baths.
    • You can have a bath bomb and a candle in there, put some classical music on, it’s really nice!
    • Washing products that smell really nice also make you smell great and clean.
  • Colouring-in.
    • Colouring in between the lines makes you feel really relaxed.
  • Cooking.
    • Mixing ingredients, for example, is very calming.
  • Animals.
    • My dog really helps me! And my fish!
  • Make-up or face paint
    • I find putting these on a really nice sensory experience.
    • It is also very creative and a good way to express yourself.
  • Medication
    • I have a chewing gum with hemp in it that really helps me.
    • Lozenges and calming sweets can also be good.
  • Crying.
    • When I am in a shut-down, I find crying helps me feel better.
  • Going to a library.
    • It is quiet and peaceful. It is nice to go in.
    • Looking through the books, choosing one and then reading is a good way to distract yourself.
    • When I am in a bad mood, but not in a meltdown, I often ask to go to the library.

When you are anxious it can be hard to make decisions. So, it can also be difficult to use coping strategies when you are anxious because you don’t know which one to use and which one will help you the most. Sometimes when you are anxious you can also forget about the strategies!

Using coping strategies

I find it easier to use coping strategies when I have a meltdown when people tell me to use them. But when I have a shutdown, I find it difficult. When I need to use my coping strategies, I remember them by:

  • Using lists.
    • I have two: an outdoor and an indoor one.
  • My mum, or the people around me, remind me.

When I am having a shutdown I like it when people check-in with me and ask what they can do to help me. I find that helpful. It is helpful when people try and ask what is wrong. When I am having a shut-down I find people giving me hugs helpful, but please ask me permission before you do!

  • I would like it if the professionals that work me had a better understanding of shutdowns and what I need when it happens.

If emergency services have to work with me when I am anxious, having a meltdown or a shutdown, I would like them to:

  • Not talk over each other.
    • It’s hard to understand what they are all saying.
  • Not ask so many questions.
    • They try to rush you to answer.
  • To communicate using sign language (BSL/Makaton) or flash/single cards.
    • When I am in a shutdown I find it easier to use a different way of communicating.
  • Understand that they are not someone that I trust to share my personal feelings with.
    • I know that they are not all trained medical professionals, for example the police.
  • Use less force and be more gentle if they need to touch me.
    • Give me more warning if they need to touch me, for example use a countdown.
  • Not make threats to try and make me do things.
Categories
Additional Needs and Disabilities ADHD Autism Dyslexia Dyspraxia LGBT+ Neurodiversity Personal Story Self-Description SEND Social Stigma

Neurodiversity: Gender and Sexuality

Model Brain is shown next to a model nerve stem.

Introduction and defintions

It is well noted through observation and research that there is more gender diversity in neurodiverse people than neurotypical people. As gender and sexuality are social constructs, there is speculation that this relationship is due to the fact that being neurodiverse means you are less likely to adhere to cultural and social norms.

You may be wondering what all these terms mean:

  • Neurodiverse/Neurodiversity/Neurodivergent – variation in in the human brain. This term is used by people to express that their brains are wired differently due to having neurological conditions and/or disorders: ADHD Autism, Dyspraxia, Dyslexia, etc.
  • Neurotypical – this is a relatively new term that is used to describe people whose brain develops and functions in ways that are considered ‘normal’. It is the opposite of Neurodivergent.
  • Gender Diversity – is a measure of how much people’s gender differs from cultural or social norms due to their sex at birth.
  • Sexuality – is all about how someone identifies themselves in relation to the gender or genders that they are attracted to.
  • Social Construct – something that only exists as a result of humans agreeing that it exists.
  • Cultural and Social Norms – rules or expectations based on the shared beliefs of different groups of people that guide behaviour and thoughts.

Talking about experiences and difficulties of the LGBT+ community is extremely important to ATLAS members. This is not only because ATLAS want to be strong allies and raise the voices of minorities, but because a number of members are also part of the LGBT+ community themselves.

“When somebody refers to me as female, I think ‘oooh not really but close enough’. It took me a long time to realise that I don’t experience femininity and being female in the same way [as the people around me] because I am not really female.”

ATLAS member
Close up of a palm with the LGBT+ rainbow flag painted on it with a heart drawn in black biro on top of it.
Image by Sharon McCutcheon

Autism and Gender

ATLAS members reflected on how they weren’t told about the relationship between Autism and gender diversity when they were diagnosed:

“When you are autistic you experience gender in a very different way … no one mentioned this to me when I was diagnosed”

ATLAS member

I am nonbinary, I don’t talk about it much because it doesn’t come up that much. It’s very common with Autism but no one told me!

ATLAS member

How masking impacts self-discovery

Masking is a survival technique that is used by people with Autism to hide behaviours that may not be accepted by the people around them. This is often achieved by learning to display neurotypical behaviours. Ultimately, masking results in having to hide the true self to be protected from negative consequences.

“Masking is a trauma response and trauma screws with everything. Trauma affects people with autism a lot more. I don’t know where the mask ends and where I begin.”

ATLAS member

ATLAS members raised that as a result of masking, it can be difficult to work out who they are:

“When I was younger I would take behaviours I would see and mask using them. A lot of people I was around were heteronormative. It makes it hard for me to understand, I can’t always get my head around what I am or what I like because I have masked for so long.

ATLAS member

As a result some members felt unable identify with labels, which could help them find support from peers and communities:

I went to a university LGBT+ society event and someone came up to me and asked: Well what are you? Why are you here? I don’t know what I am because I find it really hard to process.

ATLAS Member

Labels

“Some people find labels helpful and some people don’t.”

ATLAS member

“For me it was empowering to have my labels, it helps me to break everything down to feel like I have control. But labels are limited in how they explain me. Something I found hard to understand was ‘comphet’: How much is me wanting to be loved? How much is me wanting men to validate me? and how much of it is attraction?”

ATLAS member

Comphet stands for compulsory heterosexuality. This is where heterosexuality is assumed and enforced by society.

“On a call I do at uni they put their pronouns in their Zoom names.”

ATLAS member

ATLAS members and staff loved this idea: members and staff are now invited to put their pronouns in their Zoom names if they want to!

A white board being held up that reads in rainbow coloured letters: Hello, my pronouns are ...
Image by Sharon McCutcheon

Family Stigma

“People in my family are really against it [LGBT+].”

ATLAS member

Whilst family relationships can be extremely important for the wellbeing of children, young people and young adults, unfortunately stigma can lead to bullying, rejection and internalised stigma.

“My dad was very girls belong in the kitchen, seen and not heard. He wanted me to be his little girl and when I didn’t he came to disown me for it. It makes it hard for me to accept who I am. I have never felt comfortable with who I am or how I am. So when I hear people who are able to find themselves, I just don’t understand how they can make those decisions. I was told I couldn’t be gay or bisexual because I was just masking.”

ATLAS member

“Fortunately, I know how some people have a good accepting family, really only my mum accepts. My dad and my sisters think I am going through some sort of phase and that I’m probably stupid.”

ATLAS member

Final thoughts

“I think it is interesting how people have such different experiences.”

ATLAS member

Neurodiverse people, people with Autism, people with disabilities are just as different and individual as neurotypical people, people without an additional need or disability. Talk to us, listen to our experiences and ideas: we are experts in our perspective and have a lot to say!

To make sure that the voices of children, young people and young adults with additional needs and disabilities in the LGBT+ community are heard ATLAS will be starting drop-in sessions to provide a safe space and a platform for voices to be raised.

Categories
Additional Needs and Disabilities Autism Personal Story

Advocating for Change: Autism Awareness and Acceptance

Wooden squares scattered. Each square has a different capital letter written on it in black. & squares are shown in the middle that read: My Story

At the age of 22 my life changed. I got what most would describe as a label, but I don’t.

If I did describe it as a label, I wear mine with pride.

I dislike the term ‘disability’ as it makes me feel like I’m lacking something or I’m less able than a ‘normal’ functioning person, so I call them my difficulties and additional needs. Because with hard work, help and support they can be over-come, and everyone is different any way.

Photopgraph of Dr. Seuss with the illustrations of some of his characters from his books drawn around his head. He is wearing large square glass a grey blazer and a bow tie.
Dr. Seuss pictured with some of his famous characters.

“Why fit in when you were born to stand out”

Dr. Seuss

I have Autism and I’m never afraid to admit it as it makes me who I am, so does my difficult past. No one should ever make you feel less of a person because you see the world differently or have difficulties fitting in.

One of my favourite quotes is “Another person’s craziness is another person’s reality” said by my favourite directors Tim Burton. This is my favourite quote because it’s so true and relatable to me. I now have this quote tattooed on me as a constant reminder that it’s ok to be who you are, whether you fit in or not.

Photograph of Tim Burton with some of his characters pictured around his head and shoulders. Tim is wearing sunglasses and a black blazer.
Tim Burton pictured with some of his famous characters.

I have made it a passion of mine to help and teach others by sharing my past and present life experiences and I take pride in where I have come from and where I’m going. My Autism has its challenges that some people don’t understand but I’m always working hard to help change their views and the stigmatism around additional needs and disabilities.

Over the years I have seen more acceptance of Autism and the challenges we face but there still is a lot of misunderstanding and judgement, its something I’m willing to help change and I will always challenge things as there is always more to be done.

Awareness and Acceptance.

Categories
Additional Needs and Disabilities Autism Personal Story SEND

My ASD

Wooden squares scattered. Each square has a different capital letter written on it in black. & squares are shown in the middle that read: My Story

What is ASD?

People with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) experience the world differently. They have different strengths and weakness and they may behave differently to the people around them. Everyone with ASD is different!

My diagnosis

My mum and me were receiving support from White Lodge because I was finding it very hard to communicate and I was having ‘moments’. For me, moments are when I struggle with a lot of things and I get frustrated. The staff at White Lodge recommended that we see a doctor that they knew, who diagnosed me with ASD when I was 3 and half years old, which was very helpful.

Girls with ASD are underdiagnosed because they don’t meet people’s expectations due to stereotypes. My mum did not anticipate my diagnosis with ASD.

My life has changed quite a bit since I was diagnosed. Obviously not everyone has ASD, I am aware that I am quite different to other people. In my experience there are both positive and negative impacts of having ASD.

Positive impacts

  • I am different to other people
    • It would be boring if we were all the same!
  • I think about problems differently and come up with different solutions.
  • I express myself differently to others
    • Some people with ASD communicate differently. For example, some people can’t use their voice.
    • I speak three languages to help me communicate: spoken English, sign language (Makaton/British Sign Language), using feelings boards/bracelets/cards.
  • Due to my experiences in life and my participation in ATLAS, I am able to appreciate other people’s perspectives.
  • When I speak to people that I know well, I have a lot to share about my interests and experiences
    • I know a lot about sensory toys!

Negative impacts

  • I find it hard to make eye-contact
    • People might not think I am talking to them or that I am talking to somebody else if I don’t make eye contact.
  • I find it hard to keep a conversation, for example to keep focus and keep on subject.
  • I find it hard to manage my feelings, emotions and thoughts.
  • Loud noises, crowds, small spaces, lock rooms, flashing lights and the dark are difficult for me to cope with.
    • Flashing lights can include discos lights and even emergency vehicles!
  • I am very sensitive to touch.
    • I don’t tend to like people touching me, it feels uncomfortable. I don’t always know if people are going to be gentle and nice when they touch me and that makes me anxious.
  • Transport can be difficult because I don’t like long journeys.
    • All the sounds and people can be overwhelming.
    • Sometimes people come too close when I am travelling.
  • It can be difficult to speak to people that I don’t know.

Final thoughts

When you meet someone with additional needs, such as ASD, you shouldn’t make assumptions because you don’t know that person.

Categories
Achievement Additional Needs and Disabilities Autism Personal Story SEND

The power of participation: getting your voice heard

Wooden squares scattered. Each square has a different capital letter written on it in black. & squares are shown in the middle that read: My Story

“Before I came to participation groups, I didn’t talk.”

“Like this [conversation] was a no go … and then I went to my first session and then like, you couldn’t stop me talking, because I realised I was allowed to speak and I was allowed to know things.”

“Professionals don’t know that we don’t know we’re allowed [to speak and know things]. They make us feel like we can’t have knowledge of ourselves, which is what we’re meant to have anyway!”

“That’s been my biggest part in this [participation], is knowing myself, instead of knowing what they want me to know. Without this, I wouldn’t have been able to spread my voice. I would not have a say in terms of what I struggle with.”

Categories
Additional Needs and Disabilities Personal Story Self-Description SEND

ATLAS: The Big Picture

Recently ATLAS members have been discussing what new starters to the group might want to know before their first session!

In a discussion about what could be included in a new starter pack, the group decided it should include information about the impact of ATLAS: “The Big Picture”.

Together, members made a mind map to express what they thought “The Big Picture of ATLAS” was. Below, some of the young people agreed to share their lived experiences in relation to the impacts mentioned.

The mind map

A screenshot of a mind map on "The Big Picture". The text in the image is written below as it is hard to read due to the low resolution.
A screenshot of the mind map made by ATLAS members

The mind map reads:

  • Challenging assumptions
  • Activism
  • Personal empowerment
  • Job opportunities
  • Improving services
  • Opens the discussion
  • Helping professionals understand the experience of the young people
  • Promoting the right of people with additional needs and disabilities
  • Making Surrey more accessible
  • Surprise professionals with our points of views
  • Better understanding
  • Helps young people be seen
  • Brought about massive change in services brought about us
  • Share our expertise on our additional needs and disabilities
  • Empower young people
  • Empower community
  • Meet and speak with other people with additional needs and disabilities

Quotes from young people

When working with the UVP Team:

“When you introduce yourself to professionals, they’re like “Oh, I didn’t realize you had an opinion on this”. They seem to be surprised that people who have additional needs and disabilities care about it and know a bit about it.”

The impact of participation on professionals:

“I think people really underestimate the impact that lived experience can have because it’s literally something you have to think about every day. If it is a doctor diagnosing you … they did a couple of lectures. You have it every day so you have to learn about it and they just seem surprised that you could have the motivation to want to know what it going on with you.”

Young person with Autism at university:

“Right now I am learning clinical psychology and I cannot function in my module because it’s like I’m reading about all these kind of typical things they expect to someone on the autistic spectrum to have and I’m like, this is a load of like absolute rubbish.”

Closing statement:

“Don’t assume and if you are going to make assumptions assume ability”

If you would like to read some of the feedback and consultation work that member’s of ATLAS work on, you can find out more on our ‘Monthly News‘ page!

Please check out our ‘Get Involved‘ page if you are interested in joining ATLAS.

Image button encouraging you to get involved. In the middle there is the ATLAS logo and surrounding it, It reads: Get Involved! "No Decision About Us Without Us!
Categories
Additional Needs and Disabilities Personal Story Self-Description SEND

A week in the life of an ATLAS member

Recently ATLAS members have been discussing what new starters to the group might want to know before their first session!

A member of the group who joined recently suggested that having some information about what the group could be like or what was involved would have been really helpful.

Together, members made a mind map to express what they thought a week as a member may include!

A screenshot of a mind map on "Week in the life of an ATLAS member". The text in the image is written below as it is hard to read due to the low resolution.
A screenshot of the mind map made by ATLAS members

The mind map reads:

  • Really enjoyable
  • Trips
  • Talk about our wellbeing
  • Action Cards
  • Surveys
  • Awards
  • Meeting new people/friends
  • Weekly groups
  • Social media posts
  • Raising awareness
  • Reducing stigma
  • Sharing your experiences
  • Makaton/learning new skills
  • Quizzes
  • Writing blogs
  • Interview panels
  • Parties/social events
  • Routine
  • Support if we need
  • Gaining confidence
  • Learn about other opportunities

If you would like to read some of the feedback and consultation work that member’s of ATLAS work on, you can find out more on our ‘Monthly News‘ page!

Please check out our ‘Get Involved‘ page if you are interested in joining ATLAS.

Image button encouraging you to get involved. In the middle there is the ATLAS logo and surrounding it, It reads: Get Involved! "No Decision About Us Without Us!
Categories
Bullying Care Education Mental Health Personal Story

The Importance of Alternative Learning Provision

Wooden squares scattered. Each square has a different capital letter written on it in black. & squares are shown in the middle that read: My Story

This personal account was written by a young person and they have shared it with the User Voice and Participation Team. This young person wishes to remain anonymous.

“Mainstream education was difficult for me because of the bullying I received from other students. Before other students found out my mum had a disability I was like any other person in the school, I had lots of friends in and out of school, but this all changed overnight. There was a boy in my class who was known for bullying students, I really don’t know how he found out about my mum’s disability but he started to walk past me and pretend he was on crutches, other people then started to do the same. 

I would go into school, have form time and then walk to lesson, every time there would be a group of young people pretending to walk on crutches and laughing to each other. This then progressed to them finding out my father had died, they then started to make fun of this. I tried to deal with it by taking it as a joke, hoping they would stop, but I could not take anymore by Christmas. I spoke to my head of house about it and I felt it was not taken seriously. This response had a detrimental effect on my mental health, and I started to make up excuses not to go to school, the school would send work home for me to complete, which I was doing (Year 8).

At the beginning of Year 9 my mum and myself were asked to go to a meeting at school, we were told the main instigator of the bullying had moved to the other side of the year and the rest of his group had been expelled. I agreed to go back to school however because of my trauma, I now found it hard to be around lots of people, so I was put in isolation. This was the worst thing that could have happened because the bully then ended up in the same classroom as me.

My anxiety then went through the roof and I then refused to return to school. I felt the school were not very understanding of my issues and threatened to arrest my mum for letting me stay home.

The school did not send any work back home to me as I was not de-rolled and my mum was still being threatened. This added a lot of anxiety to what I was already feeling, in Year 9 I still managed to get out over the weekend, but this stopped quickly by Christmas as I was beaten up by the bully and his group of friends in town.

I then stopped going out for a year and a half. I was struggling with my mental health and I was referred to CAMHS.

At the beginning of Year 11 the school contacted my mum and suggested that I went to Access to Education (A2E), I was anxious about this as I had not seen anyone for a number of months.

A2E came over to my house to meet me, I was nervous, but they started a conversation about football and that put me at ease. They explained I would only be with one other person and this gave me the courage to give it a go. They eased me by letting me do the first week’s lessons online. The following week I was picked up by one of the workers and taken to the centre, she kept me calm by talking about football.

A2E supported me in that when I was having a bad day, I could do my lessons online at home and this helped a lot. A2E was more informal than school, I was allowed to call the teachers by their first name which made a difference. They mixed the day up with lessons and then we had a fun activity. There was no PE which I feel could have benefitted me but in general I felt safe and was able to learn without feeling anxious.

A positive experience was when I attended A2E another young person from my school came to the centre and he had the same experience with the same people. We supported one another through our time there and it confirmed my experience at school was unmanageable, it also began to help with my recovery.

If I could add anything to A2E I would want to include physical activities where possible. What made A2E the ideal alternative provision was the attitude of the workers involved. Their approach made A2E the best provision for me at the time, I cannot think of anything else other than to include PE, that could have made my experience better. Overall, I think there should be more alternative learning provisions like A2E for young people as there are a lot of young people struggling with mainstream education.”

Categories
Mental Health Personal Story SEND

Comorbid Mental Health with Additional Needs and Disabilities

Wooden squares scattered. Each square has a different capital letter written on it in black. & squares are shown in the middle that read: My Story

Rowan Foster, one of our ATLAS members, shares her knowledge and experience of comorbid mental health with additional needs and disabilities.

Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Misdiagnosis
  3. The accessibility of treatment
  4. Chronic physical illness and mental health
  5. Lack of services
  6. Conclusion

Introduction

When someone has additional needs and disabilities, the way they experience the world and consequently the way they experience mental health can be very different, because their brain is wired completely differently – especially in autism. The challenges faced by someone with additional needs and disabilities, living in a world that is not built for them and often works against them, can lead to mental health issues, and in addition to this many mental health conditions are highly comorbid in people with additional needs and disabilities: for example, a study found that seven out of ten people with autism also have a condition like anxiety, depression, or OCD.

In this blog post, I will discuss some of the key issues that young people with comorbid mental health and additional needs and disabilities needs often face.

Misdiagnosis

The way that mental health difficulties can present in young people with additional needs and disabilities needs is highly varied and complex – and as a result, they can be harder to treat. Until you can acknowledge, understand, and meet the needs that a young person with additional needs and disabilities has, it’s tricky to diagnose, understand and treat their mental health difficulties.

Sadly, this isn’t always recognised, and a common result of that is misdiagnosis. Especially when a young person presents with mental health difficulties that need urgent treatment, professionals don’t always have the time or the training to properly take additional needs and disabilities into consideration. But the right diagnosis is crucial to the treatment of any mental health difficulty, because a diagnosis helps a professional decide what treatment needs to be given. Giving the wrong treatment is unproductive at best, and seriously harmful at worst.

For example, some of the misdiagnoses that are given to young people with neurodivergent needs are:

It is important to remember that someone with additional needs and disabilities can still have these mental health difficulties. However, the interaction between a young person’s additional needs and disabilities and their mental health difficulties means that a diagnosis should be made more carefully. To make sure that the right diagnosis is made, there should be professionals involved who are knowledgeable about additional needs and disabilities and how the young person’s additional needs and disabilities affect them must be considered.

A mental health professional I had in the past told me that neurodivergent needs are like a ‘neurological backdrop’ to any mental health problems that show up. It’s like painting on blue vs. red paper. You can put the same paint on the paper, in the same way, but the colour will show up differently.

Professionals can misread the severity of a mental health difficulty because the presentation in a young person with additional needs and disabilities is different to what they expect. With neurodivergent needs in particular, interpreting behaviours and reactions from a purely mental health perspective can lead to misdiagnosis. For example, an autistic meltdown could be misread as a severe mental health crisis, even though it could in fact be relatively easy to manage. If nobody in that young person’s care understands how to do so, they are left untreated.

The accessibility of treatment

Even when a young person is diagnosed correctly, treatments often have different effects on someone with additional needs and disabilities. For example, I have heard repeatedly that many young people with autism struggle with CBT, myself included. This is a therapy that the NHS prescribes for a lot of different mental health difficulties. Nonetheless, the very design of CBT means that it is not suitable for everyone. The best therapeutic approaches are individualised and this is especially true for people with neurodivergent needs.

Many therapeutic settings are not accessible to a young person with additional needs and disabilities, through practical accessibility in some cases and sensory difficulties in others. So even if you manage to get the young person treatment that will work for them, you need to make sure this is treatment they can access. What isn’t always understood about accessibility is that a place isn’t fully accessible if it causes undue stress or difficulty to access it. Even if you cannot see any issues with a young person getting to, from and inside a therapeutic setting, that doesn’t mean they aren’t there.

As a person with limited mobility, for example, there are lots of very small things that impact the accessibility of a place – most of which I never would have even thought of when I had full mobility: heavy doors, small steps, the material a path is made from. When the energy and pain it might take for me to get there and back is considered alongside the design of the environment, the recovery time required after an appointment can negatively impact my everyday life.

It is the multitude of small battles that can hurt the most. This is the same for all types of accessibility need. Consider a young person who is anxious about attending a therapeutic setting on top of having to worry about the accessibility of the building they must enter to access support. It is just another stress that they don’t need, and that could exacerbate their existing additional needs and disabilities and/or mental health difficulties.

Imagine that you have been placed somewhere that is supposed to protect you, however it is uncomfortable and possibly painful for you to be there. You are unable to remove yourself from this situation. How do you feel?

Inpatient facilities are often not accessible as they tend to be bright and/or loud spaces with very little privacy: a sensory nightmare. If a young person is there under a section, they cannot leave. Someone in an inpatient facility for their mental health would have been struggling before they arrived. They shouldn’t have to deal with inaccessibility on top of that.

Physical chronic illness/disability and mental health

It is also worth noting that if a young person has physical difficulties like chronic illnesses or disabilities, the relationship between this and comorbid mental health is often not explored in the right way. Young people are often not believed about symptoms like chronic pain – it is assumed that you’re ‘too young’ or exaggerating to get out of doing something. I’ve heard it said before that everything would be better if mental health was treated like physical health, but I’m of the opinion that this isn’t true. Regardless of if your health issues are physical or mental, if someone can’t see it, they often assume it doesn’t exist.

It can be very difficult to access medical treatment or be believed about physical symptoms if you have mental health difficulties, because medical practitioners will often assume that these are the cause. The early symptoms of my physical chronic illnesses were not recognized or addressed by paediatric health services, because they assumed that they were caused by my mental health issues. If they’d been recognized earlier, that could have prevented or at least mitigated the later decline in my physical health.

I have heard of many cases where people are prescribed psychological therapy in the expectation that this will eliminate a lot of their chronic illness symptoms. Therapy can be beneficial for long-term symptom management as it can help you learn to accept and manage your condition however, it is not a cure and shouldn’t be administered as such.

The stress of dealing with physical chronic illness and disability can cause mental health difficulties by itself, especially in cases where pain is involved. It can be so scary for a young person to have to take responsibility for their own body in that way, and it doesn’t help your self esteem when you can’t participate in the same things that your peers do. If your physical illness or disability sets in later in life, then you might also be grieving for the loss of a healthy body.

Young people with physical chronic illnesses and disabilities need empathy and support – and young people need to be believed and listened to.

Lack of services

There is no service or provision for a young person with SEND needs and mental health issues. Unfortunately, this means that nobody knows what to do when a young person needs support for both simultaneously, and nobody knows who is responsible for them. Young people with these more complex needs often find themselves jumping from service to service. The way that the services are built now means that a young person often finds themselves receiving treatment or support from a multitude of teams – none of whom speak to each other. It is usually left up to the young person and their parents or carers to coordinate their own care.

A holistic approach is key to treatment of many mental health conditions, which the current services fail to do. Mental health services do not understand the additional needs and disabilities, and the additional needs and disabilities either don’t have a service (because almost all additional needs and disabilities services are built for young people with moderate to severe visible + physical disabilities or learning difficulties with lower cognitive functioning) or their service doesn’t fully understand the mental health needs, especially when complex. These services can provide some help, but none of them can fully meet that young person’s needs. The fact that they do not talk to each other compounds the issue. The young person is left with a disorganised, often ineffective, treatment path, and it is difficult for them to know what is happening.

Conclusion

I think we need more integrated and holistic care options to provide for the needs of young people with additional needs and disabilities. We face enough discrimination from the world around us. It is disappointing that we sometimes also face this discrimination from the services that are supposed to help us. I believe that we can do better than that. We must.

I hope this post has been a valuable read for you. Maybe you related to parts of it, or maybe you’ve learnt something new. Even more so, I hope that you remember to treat the young people with additional needs and disabilities in your life with compassion and respect. Especially if that person is you.

ATLAS members chose to self-describe with additional needs and disabilities and therefore this article has been updated to replace SEND with additional needs and disabilities.

Resources

[1]https://www.autismresearchtrust.org/news/borderline-personality-disorder-or-autism

[2]https://pro.psychcentral.com/aspergers-syndrome-vs-ocd-how-to-avoid-misdiagnosis/

[3]https://www.drakeinstitute.com/adhd-vs-anxiety-whats-the-difference

[4]https://socialanxietyinstitute.org/social-anxiety-and-aspergers-differences

[5]https://guilfordjournals.com/doi/abs/10.1521/adhd.2005.13.3.9?journalCode=adhd

[6]https://adhdnews.qbtech.com/odd-a-problem-of-misdiagnosis#

[7] https://network.autism.org.uk/good-practice/case-studies/eating-disorder-or-disordered-eating-eating-patterns-autism

Categories
accessibility Additional Needs and Disabilities Dyslexia Personal Story SEND

Dyslexia

The word Dyslexic written out on top of a light box in stylistic text. Books are stacked either side.

What is Dyslexia?

Dyslexia is an Additional Need and Disability (AN&D).

5% to 10% of the population have it. It is the most common specific learning difficulty. It is something that runs in families and is a lifelong disability. It is something you learn strategies to help you cope with, so people think you outgrow it, but you just learn to live with it.

Dyslexia is not just about muddling letters: it is when you struggle with spelling, confuse your letters (for example b and d), or may have difficulties reading, as you are not able to recognise sounds. Sometimes dyslexics come across as lazy or slow, as some struggle with following instructions.

Dyslexics find problem solving more easily than others – they think out of the box. Many dyslexics have high IQs and are incredibly clever people.
A myth is that dyslexics see letters moving around when black print is on white paper. That is visual stress. Although a lot of people with dyslexia have it, you can have visual stress without dyslexia.

Coloured overlays are not a cure for dyslexia, they help people with visual stress.

How to learn spellings

Depending on how your brain works, there are various spelling strategies, I found. Rainbow writing works the best for me. You learn each syllable in a different colour and then put it to one word.

An example list of words written using the rainbow writing technique for learning how to spell.
Example of Rainbow Writing

If you begin to remember spellings this way, try look, cover, write, check – you literally do as it says.

Staying on track with written work.

I find it hard to plan my work in my head and get it written down. I can talk all about a project, what I am going to do. However, when it comes to getting it on paper, I just can’t do it. A tool I have learnt is to ‘Mind map’ my ideas.

Example of a Mind Map. The central topic is in the middle with lines leading to subtopics and then lines from those to related ideas.
An example of a mind map

Start with the topic in the middle, then ideas coming off for each chapter and ideas off of each of those until I have the base details down, you can do each area in different colours if it helps. Then number them so you know what order to write it in.

General Day to Day Challenges

Because my brain has to work so hard, I can find it hard to concentrate for long periods of time and then when I get a break, I do tend to go a little crazy – just to unwind and relax.

My friends sometimes get angry with me, as I can take things very personally and then I get upset – it’s just how my brain works.

I’m not very organised, so I need help packing my school bag (amongst other things), otherwise I will forget things I need. Don’t give me a list of instructions, my brain can only cope with 2 instructions at a time, otherwise I will forget almost everything you have asked me to do – write it down, so I can do it and tick it off.

People used to call me stupid, thick, lazy or idiot – I now know that’s not true!

Things I Am Good At

I am a really good problem solver, I come up with solutions that many people wouldn’t have considered, I think out of the box – this is a skill that many businesses are looking for, so I am hopeful this will help me be successful when I am older.

Maths is an area that I do really well with, I think it’s my problem solving that helps me out.

Many people comment that I am kind and caring, I believe this is because, how I see the world and others, I know how I get treated, so ensure that I don’t treat people that way.

I have a higher than average IQ, many of the world’s most successful people are dyslexic – Richard Branson, Albert Einstein, our Health Minister – Matt Hancock, Tom Cruise and many more.

Before I found the SYAS team, I wouldn’t take part in a class assembly, however since I have been a member, it has boosted my confidence and I am more than happy to speak up and speak my mind, without worrying about how others see me.

The positives and negatives of Dyslexia

The word Dyslexia is draw out
Drawing of the word Dyslexia

Negatives:

  • My brain works much harder than most people’s
  • I’m not lazy, I just need more time to process what you are asking
  • I take things really personally
  • You need to give my instructions in small steps

Positives:

  • I think outside the box
  • I’m really good at maths
  • I’m a good problem solver
  • I have a higher than average IQ
  • I tend to do the right thing
  • I’m creative
  • Some of the world’s most successful people are Dyslexic
  • Thanks to ATLAS – I’m happy to do public speaking!