Paddy And Christine McGuinness: Our Family And Autism

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Did anyone watch this last night?
I have an autistic DS age 5 so found it really interesting to get an insight into other families and individuals with autism, really liked it.

Paddy was really quite patronising with the young people with autism he met - as mentioned above they shouldn’t have filmed the girl at the secondary school getting upset when he pushed her to say something made her really anxious. I can’t believe she gave fully informed consent to that being included and went he was speaking with the young adult woman in the residential setting he started speaking loud and slow.

I have just watched it. It was an interesting watch, I have a son with autism, but I also can never quite shake off the feeling that I too am autistic. I just can't work out where my 'normal' fits.

The school they visited was lovely but this is so far from the reality.

It's a shame that it is, whilst the school itself is in a fairly leafy (very large) village it does pull from a number of very mixed smaller villages. It isn't unachievable for any school.

I felt that there was a program that could be done just on Christine and autism and women and girls. I found it very very moving when she was talking about her childhood in particular. I would have liked to have known what would have helped her in those days.

Then there was another program that could be made about the other footballer, sorry don't know his name, and his own child.

I don't think Paddy didn't know anything about autism! He was asking questions so that they could be answered on TV.

@HollowTalk

I felt that there was a program that could be done just on Christine and autism and women and girls. I found it very very moving when she was talking about her childhood in particular. I would have liked to have known what would have helped her in those days.

Then there was another program that could be made about the other footballer, sorry don't know his name, and his own child.

I don't think Paddy didn't know anything about autism! He was asking questions so that they could be answered on TV.

I agree with this. Would be interested to hear more from here. I identified with when she said she felt she had faked a whole lifetime. There was a programme on about 4 years ago which focused on adult women’s experiences of autism and it was fascinating. Called something like ‘am I autistic’. I had been wondering myself for a while but it was that programme that pushed me to get a diagnosis. Seeing the women masking, chatting, flirting with men was educational as I mask very well and that made me doubt for a while if I was really autistic. But these women were just like me and the men were shocked when they found out they were autistic as they couldn’t spot anything unusual at all. But of course they paid the psychological prices of masking and it was all learned behaviour. Seeing their real life struggles along with how well they masked really hit home with me

I thought it was sensitively done. Agree there were some flaws. I'm glad they brought Paul Scholes into show, as his son's autism is closer to my brothers. Such a broad spectrum.

As an aside, I thought their home was beautiful.

I don't have any direct experience of autism & I found it really eye-opening and moving at times, not so much about what it's like for people who have autism or the challenges of severe autism, but from the parents perspective and especially Christine, how she's learned to deal.
And the school settings & so on.
I completely agree they are very privileged in terms of money & time (although it sounds like Paddy made himself very absent in the early days) but for me, starting from zero effectively, it did give me new insight.

It was one family’s experience of coming to terms with their children’s diagnosis and how they coped.
Having had a lot of exposure to autism through a job, there is such a wide spectrum of the condition, plus the diversity of parents - some who want to make their children as ‘normal’ as possible and others who accept the autism more readily.

I found it very frustrating - although I loved the Sedgefield lad (I used to bloody live there and I still can never spell that damn place) and thought he was just bloody brilliant and should have had the entire programme for himself.

Nice to see masking and anxiety in girls covered because there's so bloody little awareness of that at all still these days (and it's how DD's ASD manifests itself)... but even Christine's "diagnosis" was frustratingly shallow - one AQ questionnaire and a quick chat and - wow you're Autistic!

i thought the programme was interesting
the professor baron cohen man (has to be a relation of sacha, surely?) has been on a programme about autism before. he was assessing adults and it was really interesting but i can't remember the channel or when it was on.

paul scholes far more in depth than paddy mc guinness re: autistm.

i did think it was so interesting that professor b.c. said that girls with a diagnosis of anorexia are often mis diagnosed and in fact are on the spectrum. (he said something like that)

I think Simon Baron Cohen is an uncle of Sacha from a hazy recollection of a lecture a couple of years ago. There's definitely some relationship there.

I think they’re cousins. I would’ve liked to hear more from Paul.

I think they both came across as very dislikable. What little we saw of the children Indicated that they were well loved settled kids who have the benefit of wealthy parents. The whole programme wasn't very authentic and seems to focus on the parents.

@wiklowarrior

I think their honestly was brilliant. Applaud them for that.

But I think it doesn't show any side at all to how much of a disability can indeed look and be completely obvious without any doubts or confusion.

My DS can't speak a word, can't understand a simple sentence like 'get the book'. He has no concept of any of these things. Lucky if he even responds to his name on the off chance. Runs off, escape hazard. Flight risk. Self harming since age 3 from hitting himself. Has severely harmed people. It's a big difference and I'd have liked to have seen that shown on the programme but I guess it's just one family's story x

I worked in an organisation that cared for adults with behaviour like your sons and I felt the same as you. There are many families with a similar story.

@Fadingout

I think they’re cousins. I would’ve liked to hear more from Paul.

Yes, I think a programme about his family would be very interesting.

I think they came across really well, I certainly gained a different perspective on Christine.

The doctor is the local NHS paediatrician, she has a fabulous reputation.

I think they came across really well, I certainly gained a different perspective on Christine.

I agree. He is very, very lucky to have her as his wife and mother of his children. I got the impression that he does genuinely realise that. The love they both have for their children was very clear despite them dealing with things very differently.

@CoffeeWithCheese

I think Simon Baron Cohen is an uncle of Sacha from a hazy recollection of a lecture a couple of years ago. There's definitely some relationship there.

They’re cousins

Agree with the lightweight and superficial comments. It was too self centred around Paddy & Christine. All just attention seeking really. I learnt nothing new and it didn’t represent my children & family at all.

I think it was an "alright" view into parents of children with ASD. But useless in terms of information about ASD itself.

All just attention seeking really. I learnt nothing new and it didn’t represent my children & family at all.

Attention seeking? What a horrible, unnecessary comment. The clue is in the title of the programme, it was about their family and their experiences.

I really enjoyed it as the parent of a teenage girl with ASD. I loved Christine and she gave me hope that my DD will have functional relationships and a family if she wishes one day, even if life is hard now. They are obviously wealthy and it was about their journey rather than investigative journalism of any depth. But found it a good watch and heart warming.

@FrownedUpon

Agree with the lightweight and superficial comments. It was too self centred around Paddy & Christine. All just attention seeking really. I learnt nothing new and it didn’t represent my children & family at all.

Gosh, that's not very nice

We have to be practical. If Paddy and Christine didn't make this show, it's not as though the television company would have come to one of us more average families and centered the programme around us and our experience. So in that respect, at least the programme was made and shown, and maybe it has raised awareness about autism ....

If you think if someone who had no knowledge of autism watched this programme they would have seen a really happy home life, with children who behaved normally when in their own environment, and then followed up with visits to adults with autism who were living fulfilled lives. It was all very lovely apart from touching on the fact that Paddy had been diagnosed with clinical depression along the way (but no really
expansion of this).
Any of us dealing with autism on a regularly basis (whatever the level of functioning) would know it has it’s highs and lows and everything in between and I hated the way this programme portrayed things. I would say it set understanding back and was useless at best.
And I know I keep going on about this - but at the first signs of someone with autism showing distress (the girl interviewed at the high school) they brushed over it and showed her talking about something else. But the reality is that the girl has to deal with her anxiety and it doesn’t help anyone to cover this up.

Also I will say I thought Christine was brilliant - both in the way she spoke to people with autism and her calm acceptance of her own diagnosis.