Julieanne Williams

A crazy little thing called running 70km for autism.

So, I’m doing this mildly crazy thing where I’m going to run 70km in October to support Autism. For a runner this might not seem like much of a challenge but I’m certainly biting off more than I’m sure I can chew.

Autism knocked at our door when Master J was in Grade 3 and had an impact none of us could have anticipated, not because autism is any sort of a monster but because as we discovered the world is in fact not always an autism-friendly one. With Jarvis (15) permission, part of this running journey will not only be raising funds but highlighting some of the challenges we’ve faced. Its been a wild ride, late diagnosis, an impact on mental health and the real highlighting of how hard it is for someone with high functioning autism to fit in, not because they don’t work so hard at it; but because the world is so keen to forget the facts about autism just because someone like Master J presents so ‘normally’.

People are so understanding and keen to offer advise which is lovely – but the advice usually fits their non-neurodivergent journey, and the understanding often evaporates when there is an ‘incident’ in which they expect a ‘normal’ response. Yep, Master J has social and emotional gaps, its not just a thing we say to excuse bad behaviour. It’s an actual thing, he doesn’t understand subtle ques, he misses the depth of ‘no’ because you are still laughing and they are conflicting messages, and yep, he does dumb stuff…. A fair bit….because sometimes things just seem funny and he doesn’t understand the consequences and ramifications; there is no pre-processing of the emotional impact.

The world is a fickle place, and all is well until it isn’t, then it turns on him and he is confused because he doesn’t even understand what he did wrong, which hurts. Yesterday the world was his friend and today it hates him, not because he is a mean person or doesn’t care about your feelings but because you – who could understand and can learn to navigate him (just as he works every day to learn to navigate you) don’t bother. Because the world accepts that you can go about your day inadvertently triggering the neurodivergent and taking no responsibility for your part in the fallout. Because you don’t have to understand it, accept it, work with it……only you do. You really do. Not just for them but for you. See, for all the ‘gaps’ Master J is enigmatically one of the most compassionate, kind humans out there. He’s loyal and loving and he works hard every day to be more of what the world finds acceptable. That’s a pretty remarkable young human, and you, the unaccepting world are missing out on all of the good that comes with accepting all of the person.

I in no way sat down to write a ‘shame on you world’ piece but this process does appear to have exposed some of my disappointment in you (world). Sorry about that, but also please do better. Now let’s give a big shout out to those who have embraced, loved and learned along with us. You are many, and you are legends! And thus, I’d love for you all to donate, not because I accidently just guilted you into it, but because you also think being able to raise awareness and support a demographic with a 70% hit rate for mental health issues in response to living in a really confusing place (the not autism-friendly world) is a great way to spend your money.

In conclusion, after a big break in my leg that resulted in rods that make running rather uncomfortable and kind of awkward, this seems like the perfect challenge. A rather awkward kind of uncomfortable 70kms for a kind of awkward sometimes uncomfortable thing called autism.
#awkwardconvos #awkwardrunner #championkid #runforautism #aspect #autismspectrumaustralia