24th June 2018
Yesterday I attended “The Autism Show” in association with the National Autistic Society, at Birmingham and had an amazing time. This was my third visit to the show and each time has been a different experience for me. Each year I have been at a different stage of my Autistic journey of self discovery, which I think has been the reason why the experiences have been so different. I always visit with my wife who has also enjoyed the show and shares my views of the event being extremely worthwhile.
The first time I went was before I had received my diagnosis. I was in the process of wondering if I was on the Autistic spectrum or not. At this point I had spent months researching Autism and it was becoming more and more clear to me that I was Autistic, and that I needed a diagnosis to confirm my suspicions.
This visit to the show was part of that research in order to gather information on how to seek a diagnosis and what happens afterwards. There were some good avenues for information and I listened to a couple of talks, but generally I felt that it was more aimed at children than adults. In fact I only stayed for half the day. It was a positive experience though and I did obtain the information I was seeking from it.
The second time I went I was in a totally different place. I now had my diagnosis which confirmed that I was Autistic. Immediately this made me feel like I had more of a right to attend the show. Last time I had thoughts of doubt about this, in case I wasn’t on the spectrum. Also I had gone through the many stages of emotion after diagnosis, such as euphoria, acceptance and the low mood of doubt, before reaching a stage where I wanted to be part of the Autistic community.
The problem was that I was unsure how to make this happen. I had been hoping that somebody who was already doing advocacy work would give me the chance to work with them. I had met a few people and hoped that they would somehow give me an opportunity to get my voice out there. I now understand that this was the wrong way to go about things.
And then at the Autism show everything changed. I met two YouTube vloggers, Connor and Katy who made me realise that I didn’t need to rely desperately on anyone to give me chance. I simply had to do it myself and get my voice out there. This was a bit of an epiphany and four months later my website and blog “An Autistic’s View” was born. This has been one of the best things I have ever achieved and the spark from it came from meeting people at the Autism show. Connor and Katy also persuaded me to join Twitter to get more exposure to Autistics online. I had been apprehensive of social media up to this point, but today I really enjoy the online community. I also watched more talks at the show and got more involved. It really was an amazing day!
So yesterday was the third time I have attended the show and once again it was brilliant. This time was different, as after a year communicating on Twitter, I got the opportunity to meet some amazing people in real life. I met Purple Ella, who did a brilliant talk about Autism and Mental Health, Ros, Andy and Sez for the first time, as well as the opportunity to see Connor, Katy, Elizabeth and Lorraine again.
All people who I follow on social media almost daily. This made this year’s show really special as it made me feel part of a great community. I felt like I really belong. The famous Maslow’s hierarchy of needs has belonging halfway up the pyramid, as an important part of human development. Therefore, I am really grateful that my life has found its way here. This for me was the best part of yesterdays show.
The show itself was excellent and I think has started to get the balance between children and adults better. The talks I attended were varied, interesting and thought provoking. The stands and stalls were of a high quality and there was a good balance of information. My only real criticism is that some of the stalls were quite small and compact. At the back of the exhibition hall there was an abundance of empty space. Why not make the stalls bigger and utilise this space? For example, the excellent Chewigem team seemed extremely cramped in their location and had little space to deal with customers and display their products. I don’t see why the space at the back could not have been used to make the stall areas bigger. Maybe next year.
If you are Autistic, think you maybe Autistic or know somebody in your life who is on the spectrum, then I could not recommend the Autism show enough. It is a brilliant opportunity to share knowledge, stories, feel part of something, have fun, meet others and even find friends. I have never attended the London or Manchester shows but the Birmingham show is well organised.
I feel that they have considered the sensory issues, the lighting is low, the talks are through headphones whose volume you can control, accessibility is good and there are plenty of quiet areas you can move to, if things get too much. The talks are varied, providing something for everyone, and they are on all day in three locations so you can pick and choose what you want to listen too. There is a good mixture of stalls too.
It is a shame that the show is only on once a year in three locations. I really wish it was more and I can’t wait for next year’s show. I want to finish by saying a huge thank you to everyone who makes it happen – you really are amazing. All of you.
Links to the channels of people mentioned above can be found here – please check them out:
Connor: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCR0sGyrQN800DkQbhCbLDA
Purple Ella: https://www.youtube.com/user/purplemumify
Katy (Invisible I): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2_a05o1pW4fr9SzlyMv8OA
Sez: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEGrCJ075UyDw-PRObU5eQw
Andy (IndieAndy): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCR-fiMOz0Ot2x3bwA-_mS0A
Chewigem: https://www.chewigem.co.uk/