Written 30/5/2020
“Between the ages of eight or nine, almost every other weekend would bring a birthday party. The other parents would be in the kitchen necking chardonnay whilst their kids were laughing their heads off in front of some clown and I would be the one following Henry around while he found a small space behind a sofa to hide in. After a while, I gave up. He wasn’t enjoying it and it was purgatory for me because it highlighted how different he was.” Clare Walker, mother of now 17-year-old Henry, has experienced first hand the difference between people on the spectrum and those who are not.
According to the National Autistic Society, autism affects more than one in a hundred people. Despite this, there are preconceptions of those who are autistic which can ultimately be damaging. A 2016 autism research study revealed that close friends and family have difficulty understanding people with Asperger’s syndrome.
But, one way many people feel understood and able to express themselves is through talent or skill. A study by Patricia Howlin, Emeritus professor of clinical psychology at King's College London, revealed that 30% of autistic adults have an area of talent. This often results in preconceptions that the majority of autistic individuals have an exceptional area of talent known as a set of special skills called a ‘savant talent’. A savant is someone who has an outstanding ability in a specific area despite serious mental disabilities. As Dr Ilona Roth, an academic psychologist specialising in autism points out: “Not everybody in the neuro-typical community, that is the non-autistic community, is a genius, so we shouldn’t expect everyone who is autistic to be an autistic genius.” Assuming such can be damaging to the individual and their families.
According to an article by Lisa Jo Rudy, MDiv specialising in autism, “savants” and “talented autistic people” are not the same thing. There are many autistic people with ordinary talents—but savant syndrome is “rare and extreme”. Henry may not have a ‘savant talent’ but he is extremely accomplished in music, working at Grade 8 level for the piano, violin and viola. “When he was about five or six he would ping railings or metal lamp posts, things like that and we couldn’t really work out what he was doing,” says Walker. “He was sort of getting the note out of them and when he started playing the piano, it was this revelation where he realised all these different sounds that made sense to him actually had a name.” Music is a way Henry can communicate without words, ideal for someone like himself whose ability to put thoughts into words and sentences is impacted by his autism. “I think that finding ways to help autistic people bring out their skills and creativity is really important,” says Dr Roth. “Where there are talents it’s important to celebrate them.”
Anna Kennedy, who was awarded an OBE in 2012 for her services to special needs education and autism, has taken showcasing talents of those on the spectrum to the next level. Home-schooling two sons on the spectrum was not easy for Kennedy: “Both my boys at the age of four and seven were told that they didn’t have a place in a mainstream school,” she says. “It was a very frustrating time for me, I felt isolated because I didn’t know anyone else who had a son or a daughter on the spectrum.”
But, instead of seeing this as a disadvantage, Kennedy started up her own school Hillingdon Manor in the London borough of Uxbridge which recently turned 21 years old. Starting up her charity Anna Kennedy Online, her anti-bullying campaign ‘Give Us a Break’ received many positive responses including multiple YouTube videos of autistic people showcasing their talents. With this as inspiration, Autism’s Got Talent was born.
“The first one was the most inspiring and the best because it was the first one and we weren’t sure how it was going to go. It was just so special. People spoke about it for weeks and weeks afterwards, videos were shared all over social media and a lot of people said it wouldn’t be able to be done,” says Kennedy. Challenging the preconceptions of people with autism, the show “created a lot of opportunities for the young people that are involved, it inspired a lot of people that have watched the show to try things out themselves”. Past acts have included singers, actors, musicians and dance groups displaying impressive talent and potential of what people with autism and Asperger’s syndrome can do. With performers from Croatia, America, Canada, Italy, Nigeria, and Mexico, Autism’s Got Talent has become global. Even reaching national news with Katy Price’s son Harvey performing in the show in 2019, attracting thousands of viewers.
Francesca Happé, professor of cognitive neuroscience at King's College London, who contributed to the research study previously mentioned, believes that for individuals on the spectrum who do have something they are good at, it is often “really important for their self-esteem”. Due to “autistic people suffering from depression as well as anxiety at much higher rates than the general public,” Happé believes “finding something that you’re good at and you enjoy is really a useful thing and it can be a route to employment”.
Elena Vidal is head of sixth form at the Courtyard, a free school in north London for pupils with special educational needs. Working to support pupils, Vidal recognises how important academic guidance, social and emotional support is for young people with autism. One way they have achieved this is by building a programme that teaches employers about skills that some people with autism have, helping them identify roles in which the skills that autism brings enhances their organisation. “I would like to see society looking at the positive features of autism, embracing and celebrating different ways of thinking; more neurodiverse employers and creation of an autism hub in the workplace,” says Vidal.
Moving forward, there has been progression within the past decade of advances in autism awareness. But, that does not take away from the need for things to continue developing. “What I think society needs is a better understanding,” says Roth. “There’s a difference between awareness and understanding.” As Walker says: “we do feel that there has been that huge shift in society’s recognition of what people who are different have to offer but, there’s always more that can be done.”