25th November 2018
It has been an amazing week for Autism awareness thanks to coverage of the TV show “I’m a Celebrity – get me out of here” which this year has an Autistic contender, Anne Hegerty- also known as the Governess from the quiz show “the Chase”.
Normally I don’t watch the show as it is on every night at nine o’clock which would be a big commitment for me energy wise – normally I am trying to stay awake after nine o’clock but with the Autistic awareness surrounding Anne, I have tuned in. I really liked Anne prior to her appearing on the show, I have seen and read much about her online.
So when I heard about her going on the show, my initial reaction was wow! How can an Autistic person do that? I know that the show is a tough one for anyone, let alone somebody who deals with sensory and social issues. I know that I would be useless in there. So immediately my thoughts was how brave she was for even considering it. I did not see the episode where she actually went into the jungle. Things really began to happen though after the first day’s episode when my social media went hectic with how she had opened up on the show about Autism to the other contestants. Therefore, I knew I had to watch that…
So I watched it on catch up and was thrilled to see her talk openly about being diagnosed, the fact that she was diagnosed later on in life and aspects of being Autistic, such as dealing with tasks: where she has to “imagine herself completing a task before she actually does it”. I was equally impressed with how her team mates were all looking after her, interested in learning about Autism as a condition and receptive to how Anne was feeling.
The support was wonderful. A similar thing happened the following evening when Anne was clearly struggling and the group decided to have a quiz to help her. Wow, I was almost in tears watching this. Quizzing, facts and knowledge are clearly a special interest of Anne’s and to see the others pick up on this and engage with her in her interest was so emotional. Talking about a special interest to an Autistic person is a wonderful thing as it really helps to calm them down, helps them to engage and I think that it shows you care about them. I wish I had more groups of people in my life like the jungle team.
The feedback from people watching Anne on the show was incredible so much so that the National Autistic’s Society website crashed due to people logging on wanting to know more. The response from the NAS press team has been equally fantastic with plenty of crucial information about Autism and in particular Autistic women and girls, being released both in the press and throughout social media. My favourite article from them is here, which explains some of the difficulties that Anne will be facing. https://www.autism.org.uk/get-involved/media-centre/news/2018-11-21-seven-overwhelming-reasons.aspx
In conjunction with this, the output from the Autistic community has been equally outstanding. I have watched vlogs and read blogs and even seen some of the amazing people I follow on Twitter on television talking about it. This has all contributed to raising awareness and more importantly acceptance for Autistic women and girls. Anne is a great role model for them and everyone on the Autistic Spectrum, including one Autistic boy who wrote her a letter about being brave going into the jungle.
I know Anne will probably never read this blog but I want to say a direct “thank you” to her, for being an Autistic celebrity who has put herself outside of her comfort zone, a thing that takes great courage, and for achieving so much awareness. I am doubtful that she knows what she has achieved whilst being in there and I look forward to hearing more about her experiences when she comes home. Yes, I really want her to win, but if she does not, then so what? She has already won so much through being such an inspiring Autistic woman.