12 TheWeekJunior• 28 March

All about autism

Meet six inspirational figures who haveone thing incommon...

Heroes with autism

F

rom30March until5April, people will markWorld AutismAware ness Week. Autism is a

lifelongcondition that affects howpeople feel, hear and see theworld.Someautisti cpeople

say that the worldcanfeel overwhelming to them, and in particular theycanfind it difficult to

understand andrelate to other people. Some autistic peoplestick toalimited andrepeated

pattern of activities and interests from anearly age. Thismeans that they oftenexcelintheir

specialist fields of interest, and their attention to detailcanhelpthemspotmistakesothers

might miss. Autismhas aspectrum, meaning that some people who haveita re less affected

thanothers. Morethanone in every 100 people in theUKissomewhereonthe autistic spectrum.

Take alook at six brilliant people who have autism,and discover their achievements.

Bestknown asaTVpresenter and environmentalcampaigner,Chris Packham

alsodevotestime toraising awareness of autism.Hewas diagnosed with

Aspergersyndrome –aform of autism–inhis 40s. People with Asperger

syndrome have fewer problems with speechthan others with autism, but

still couldhavedifficulties understanding language.Hesays that hecan

often feel overwhelmedbyhis senses–sight, smell and sound,in

particular.Packhamexplains,“Icantellthe differencebetweenmytwo

dogs because theyhave different smells.” Packha msays he likes having

Asperger’s, adding,“Iftherewas acurefor Asperger’s,Idon’tknow if I’d

want it. Humanity has prospered because of people with

autistictraits.”

ChrisPackham

When 10-year-old Libby Scott wroteashort story, she had no ideaitwould lead

to herco-writing two full-length books. Her original piece,Life ofaPerfectionist,

wasbased on herexperiencesofbeingautistic. Her mum shared it online, and

it quickly went viral.Scott toldThe Week Junior,“Iwas speechlesswatching this

love for my writing spiralling before my eyes.”Having discoveredatalentfor

writing, Scott worked with authorRebec ca Westcott onabook calledCanYou

SeeMe?,whichfollowsagirlcalledTallywho also has autism. The sequel,

Do YouKnow Me?,will be published on2April. Scott said shewas inspired

to writethe book because,“I neverread abookwith an autistic girl in and

we should all be able to see ourselves in booksand filmsand onTV.Iwant

people to be inspired to always be themselvesand tobe

bold even when things aregoing really wrong.”

LibbyScott

As an author and speaker,Michael Barton helps people who are

neurotypical (don’t have autism) to understand the strengths that

autistic peoplecanoffer.Hesays that if people know moreabout

autism, they aremorelikely to be able to support others. He told

The Week Junior,“Beingautisti cmeans that mybrain is wired

differently.Itd oes makesome parts of my life moredifficult, such

as making friends, but it also meansIamprecise and very good at

logical and analytical tasks(able toexamine things in detail).”This

helpswith his job asadata analyst, because he has to focus on

graphs and spreadsheets. He says we shouldcelebrate theway

autisticpeopleare because they areoften ideally suited to the

modern, technology-filled world.

ALAMY Michael Barton

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