Anyone got any positive autism stories?

[Newsenmum]

How did your child turn out? Did they get through school or at least do something that makes them happy or feel worthwhile?

I would like to know this too. I was told that some organisations actively recruit ASD people as the traits make them good at some jobs. This was said to me by someone very high up the police...
Other than that 🤷🏻‍♀️

That’s amazing.

I know every child is different but it would be good to hear from mums whose kids are now finishing school and getting jobs or having healthy relationships. Or from autistic women themselves.

My DD is in the 2nd year of a maths degree 300miles away..... There are many students just like her. ASD has challenges, but they are not insurmountable most of the time.

She has friends, she is happy, she is taking opportunities and making the most of life. Just like.many other young people.

Can’t reassure you with the long term outcomes yet due to younger DC. but seeing them finding community and joy and friendship with other autistic children within their own profile has allowed them to relax and unmask. Seeing that has been life changing and a very positive story for them. And for the rest of their family too. That realisation is bound to help their outcomes to be more positive.

That’s lovely. How did they meet other autistic children?

It’s a numbers game so it’s by putting yourself out there, asking other families for play dates, joining SEND groups, talking to your school senco about families events or groups that they know about,setting up a SEND group if there isn’t one, going online, Mumsnet Local, scouring local events boards, word of mouth. Gets easier when your kids are old enough to have special interests and you can engineer it to meet other families through that like gaming or Harry Potter or vehicles or whatever it is. When they’re older still they will find friends online.

I work with engineers and computer scientists. There are a lot of successful people with autism/autistic traits in these professions.

https://www.imeche.org/news/news-article/engineers-score-highly-in-autism-quiz-220414-1#:~:text=Engineers%20are%20most%20likely%20to,by%20the%20University%20of%20Cambridge.

There is a professor at Cambridge uni (Prof Baron-Cohen - cousin of Sacha) who has suggested that the rise in the number of autistic people is because of increased education and social mobility. 100 years ago, if you were autistic and your dad was a butcher, then you would be a butcher (it wouldn't matter about your special interests, you'd just follow the family business) and you'd marry the local miller's nt daughter because that was who was there and that was how matches were made. You'd have children and the children would have a 50:50 chance of inheriting asd or nt traits. Nowadays, if you are autistic, you are more likely to go to university to study your preferred topic and meet other people from anywhere in the world (not just whoever is local and age appropriate), people with similar interests and similar asd brains. You then pair up and have kids and your children are more likely to inherit autistic traits from both sides of the family. I'm oversimplifying it, but that's the gist. He has a book out called the pattern seekers and it discusses how we are basically selectively breeding autistic engineers and that this has huge benefits to the advancement of society.

Here it is: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pattern-Seekers-Autism-Drives-Invention/dp/B08W5F9LHF/

My DH is on the spectrum I'm sure. We only realised when DD was diagnosed (well, I knew...) He's had a good life - travelled, has a job lecturing in Engineering, a good circle of friends. He went to Cambridge which is full of the neurodiverse.

BIL is possibly not neurotypical either. He once asked for a clean dustbin for an Xmas gift (he got it).

Our DD is not academic and struggles with emotions but excels at sporty and practical things and is a wicked mimic.

They add a lot to my life as do my various autistic students. Who needs typical?!

I'm autistic: I have three degrees including a MPhil from Cambridge, I have been happily married for over a decade and have a son (I've actually got married twice but the first husband wanted a girlfriend as well so that did not last long). I rose in my very competitive specialist field (although atm I am having a career break for childcare reasons).

I do still rock in my chair, say blunt awkward things, have special interests, wear a brimmed hat outside my home for sensory reasons, get easily distracted and lose things, have a cluttered house etc though!

I am pretty happy - sometimes things I get frustrated at things that are water off a duck's back to others, but I also take joy from things that they can't see the beauty of, so I think that evens out. The most annoying thing I meet is (a subset of) other people and now that I am an independent adult I have the autonomy to not have to meet them if I don't want to, so that's great.

This thread is really heartening thank you everyone

@Newsenmum , this name may already have come up for you, but in case it hasn't, Google Temple Grandin too. She is a university professor, inventor and livestock welfare campaigner. She was originally diagnosed with brain damage and her father wanted to have her institutionalised. Her mother refused (and later divorced the father) and took her to lots of doctors and specialists and got her speech therapy from age 2 and other support in place, special school provision, nanny. The diagnosis of autism didn't come until much, much later in life.

Temple campaigns for autism awareness and has written loads of books on autism that you might find helpful. She has also given TedTalks/interviews/lectures that you can find on YouTube. She was listed in Time magazine's 100 most influential people. There is a film about her starring Clare Danes (haven't seen it yet, but heard good things)

(Fyi, Temple's family were very wealthy so her mother could afford to see specialist neuroscientists, but autism wasn't widely known about at that time (particularly in women/girls) and brain damage diagnoses were probably far more common. Institutionalisation was probably the only option for a lot of other families (without the Grandin's wealth) in 1950s America. Makes you wonder how many other autistic children were misdiagnosed, institutionalised and missed out on having an extraordinary life if only they'd had the right support and encouragement. Nb. The "brain damage" diagnosis was only officially overturned when she was in her 60s!)