AUTISM NEWSLETTER DECEMBER 2021 COMMENT

Secure silence The UK government has kept an autistic man in a secure hospital for half his life, and used the courts to silence his parents. More

Sleep study At the age of eight, Chase Mazurek has rarely had a good night's sleep. He has autism and ADHD and has trouble falling asleep, wakes in the night and gets up about 4.45am. His mother, Melanie, says it's been exhausting and has taken a toll on relationships and family life. More
 
Including us Much more must be done to make workplaces more inclusive for autistic people, according to Edinburgh-based Auticon, after it found that one in ten workers with the condition does not feel able to reveal their diagnosis at work. More
 
Getting a feeling For some of our children understanding emotions is particularly hard.  They may have communication challenges or struggle to read their own internal and physical signals.  Some of our children have high anxiety and therefore have a huge challenge when it comes to regulating their emotions. More
 
It’s about me ‘People said I was weak, lazy and fussy. I’m not – but I am autistic’. The late diagnosis of Melanie Sykes and Christine McGuinness came as no surprise to those who, like Sara Gibbs, have trodden the same path. More
 
Safe online Online dating can be an avenue for autistic people to meet new friends and potential romantic partners, but it brings with it some pretty serious dangers. People who you meet via online dating sites may not always be who they seem. More
 
Zayne’s world “At the beginning, life was really stressful and confusing, mixed with long waiting lists and no answers. We just wanted to be able to help Zayne the best we possibly could, but with very little knowledge and understanding of what he needed, it proved almost impossible to know what to do for the best.” More
 
Support for signing SignTown is an interactive web game built to help people to learn about sign language and Deaf culture. It uses machine learning to detect the user's ability to perform signs learned from the game. More
 
New numbers Autism rates are increasing yet again, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention which finds for the first time that more than 2% of American children have the developmental disability. More
 
Giving voice Sean Porter made an app for non-verbal children and those with autism like his brother to help them communicate. More
 
It shouldn’t happen to a vet Mental health researchers at the University of Nottingham School of Veterinary Medicine and Science are calling for participants for a study on how workplace stressors affect staff who live with autism. More
 
Capturing the spectrum Hoping to challenge misconceptions among the neurotypical, photographer Mary Berridge has spent more than five years capturing photographs of young people with autism. More
 
Right to write Nick McAllister found his words after a tough time looking for employment as an autistic writer. More
 
From science to support Working as a speech-language pathologist back in the early 2000s, Andrew Whitehouse saw one family after another struggling to get good care for their autistic children, some of them pursuing pricey, unproven therapies. More