The month of April is best known for
the explosion of Easter Bunnies, obscene amounts of chocolate as gifts for
children and a magnificent feast to celebrate the resurrection of Christ. To
many people April is Easter, they plan, they organise, many months in advance
sometimes, Children have the time of their lives, gorging on chocolate,
receiving gifts from extended family members, but to me, April is Autism
Awareness month.
So to celebrate this, I am going to
dedicate my blog for a whole month to families who wish to share their Autism
Journey with you.
Some of these people have autism themselves, some are
autistic parents to autistic children. We have teachers with autistic students
and even Bloggers who want share their journey with me, which I am very
grateful for.
Independence
My
name is Lorna I would like to share my story of being a mostly independent
adult, I have high functioning autism, ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) and live in supported living
community.
Me, my mum and my school worked so hard when I was younger I was very
angry and had challenging behaviour, I was frustrated I didn't understand until I got
older, why I couldn't do the same thing as most people my age - then they said I
could work towards being independent.
I was so happy.
It took a lot of work and a
lot of chances that I am glad I got, l might not be where I am now if I didn't take them. I can
go on the bus, but only to certain places and town. When I moved I had to redo
training for my new town and this caused a lot of upset and talking and maybe a bit of
jumping up and down and then they said I didn't need to redo training to go on
the bus by myself which made me so happy, I still get the same happy feeling going out
by myself as I did the first time.
Also the biggest hurdle with being
independent is receiving letters which sounds silly - not in my world- you get a letter, great I
was expecting that or I wasn't but if i know what it is or who it is from that is
fine but then you get a letter and it is supposed English - maybe to the person
who sent it - all letters especially benefit letters should be written in simple language
because it can be very frustrating and makes you feel stupid when you roughly
understand it but not all of it which can cause a meltdown and ruin a day.
I know I am
different and proud but I don't need to be made to feel more different if you
want to ask a question or tell me what you think of me just say as long as it
is not too bad I won't mind I appreciate honesty even if a lot of people don't
Thank you so much to Lorna for sharing your journey about independence. I hope that independent living is something that Lola will manage one day. With the correct support and interventions its my biggest hope for her.
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