Over the last week i have been amazed at how accepting and supportive the learning disability team are in how they work with me.
They accept me as i am, not as "a person with autism" but simply as Jamie.
They don’t view me as a person with a problem to be fixed or view autism as something i should "recover" from. They don’t judge me based on if something i do is deemed "autistic behaviour" or not. They don’t deny something i find useful based on age appropriateness or judge my abilities on appearance.
The focus is on support in whatever form is needed, They don’t make judgements about what support is valuable or a "need" and instead focus on being practical. Sometimes they take control and lead, other times they let me lead.
This is how support for autistic people should work. The focus is on what we can do each day to support my autonomy, independence and happiness. No one is trying to change me or fix me.
It’s a little surreal at time and its taking time for me to get use to it!
