A 15-year-old Autistic lad I know took part in an interview skills day at school this week. At the end of the day, the interviewer (an external business person) sought out his head of year to say how impressed they had been with him, especially with how well prepared he was. They had chosen him out of all the interviewees as their student of the day. This made his teacher, his family and all of us who care about him really proud! It even raised a small smile from him – well, he is 15 years old, he’s not going to go over the top!
The reason this is such a wonderful story to me, it just shows that people with Autism should be celebrated for the amazing, unique skills they bring to a situation.
Let’s stop looking at how people are ‘different’ (in whatever way) and start celebrating all the contributions we can all make!