The Girl, the Stick and the Dog.

This is a photo of a child with Autism. Can you tell by looking at the picture?

Probably not, she hides it well.

This is the story of her day out. She was rudely awaken by her Mum at 9.30, she said she was fine and that she'd slept well before she allowed to go back to sleep.

At 12 noon she rudely interrupted by her. Dad asking her if she wanted to get up and get dressed to out for the afternoon. This is very annoying as she is on Facebook and YouTube and this is what she wants to do for now.

After a lot of shouting and arguing, she is dressed to go out but very upset about the change to her plans.

Before she leaves the house she is reminded to bring her shoes, but she can't find them. More shouting, more anger but the shoes have now been found. They were outside the back door where she left on Saturday. She left them there because they were wet and full of sand.
Why is it her fault the shoes have been left in this way? What was she supposed to do?

The car journey is torture. Her level of anxiety is high wish in turn sets off her OCD. She can hear every swallow, cough, clearing of throat and words with 'th' sound that her Mum and Dad make. This is very painful to her and the only relief from the pain is to copy and repeat every sound that makes her flinch. Shouting at Mum and Dad to stop making these noises and repeating as long as it takes to feel the pressure release.

The family is going to St Andrews, her choice. Everything will have to been done in the correct order or it won't be right.
Walk the dogs on West Sands Beach,
A Scottish tablet and sky blue ice cream cone from Iannetta's,
A walk to the Bean Scene for coffee,
A browse through Bonkers,
Smoke Sausage Supper and eating it at West Sands.
Alone time to clamber over the rocks.

In this order, with no amendments, talking about chickens the whole time. is what Claire calls a good day.

Through all that anxiety and pain to get there, it's worth it for a day out in St Andrews.

And she would do it all again, in the same order tomorrow, if she could.

This is Claire's story of her day out.

I haven't mentioned the heartbreaking conversation we had over coffee where she mentions that she can't go with her friends to an event she was planning with them over the holidays. They've changed their plans and she does know why, didn't know to ask them, Didn't offer other options and was too worried to tell us.

Today is Autism Awareness Day.

Autism is a lifelong developmental disability that affects how a person communicates with, and relates to, other people. It also affects how they make sense of the world around them.


You can't tell by the picture but this is Claire's world.