George Square Autism Awareness Roadshow.

As I mentioned in an earlier post (or later if you're reading this first) got waylaid by some top chat in George Square on Tuesday at an event held as part of Glasgow City Council's Autism Awareness Month so thought I'd give a quick overview on the event/information available there as well as a quick review of  the much talked about Autism bus.

Which as I discovered was not full of sweets.

Or Lego.

George Square? No actually it's quite groovy.

Held over 2 days (April 16 & 17) the event featured representatives from a myriad of agencies and venues with everyone from Autism Network Scotland to The King's Theatre via the St Enoch Centre and House of Fraser to Strathclyde Police and everyone you can think of inbetween.

At first sight the windswept marquee looked a wee bit grim but as folk began to visit and it became busier you couldn't help but notice the enthusiasm for not just raising awareness but learning more about the issue from those involved.

Let's be honest, you'd expect those attending from Autism agencies to be up for a wee bit of Autie-chat but when folk from local shops (I'm looking at you Frasers and St Enoch staff) seem genuinely interested and excited about implementing strategies to make things more accessible whilst enthusing about things they've learned whilst attending training (and putting up with my questions and comments) you can't help but feel that finally things may change.

And even if it's something as basic as understanding staff in shops it's a big thing to us.

Plus the atmosphere around Autism in Glasgow at the moment seems to be one geared toward a long term strategy not just a one month now what's next attitude.

Hopefully this will be the case.

Phew, I'm really not used to feeling this positive.

Now onto (quite literally) The Autism Awareness bus.

Billed as an innovative, fully immersive, interactive training session which has been developed to give people an experience of the sensory processing difficulties faced by Autistic people - the bus experience involves donning bizarre glasses, gloves and earphones before being led into a room to watch a video of day to day life (albeit one directed by David Lynch) whilst someone who's seen Dario Argento's Suspiria too many times operates the lights.

You're then asked to perform a variety of tasks including sorting playing cards and counting tiddlywinks which if I'm honest freaked me out a bit so no doubt any NT folk joining in will be pooing themselves.

Honestly there's a really good horror movie plot in there....like an absolutely Autistic version of the Saw franchise.

Hmmmm.....I know what I'll be doing later.

"Look at the pig!"

Whilst I can see how this may be seen to be of use I found it difficult to understand (and fully appreciate) it, tho' as my wife pointed out it's not really aimed at me is it?

Interestingly the (non-Autistic) guy who did the experience alongside me seemed to get a lot from it so it must be doing something right tho' I've spoken to a few Autistic folk who've tried it out and they feel the same as I do - as much as they/I wanted to identify with it we just couldn't.

The organisers did mention that it had been developed alongside Autistic folk so maybe it's that old 'everyone on the Spectrum is different' shtick plus I'm a little worried that some folk may come away with the idea that this experience defines Autism when as we know it's much, much more than just sensory issues. 

Personal space issues, needing extra time to process, misunderstanding of social conventions etc. all need addressing too.

I did try to get into a conversation about this at the time but ironically the guy in charge was too busy.

I sound like I'm damning with faint praise (which isn't the case) but if this can help in any way with starting the conversation regarding Autism then that's a good thing.