Autism Services
Autism is a neurological diversity not a disability, but then all humans are neurologically diverse to each other, so therefore are all humans disabled.
For instance, let’s look at the topic of stimming. Firstly, let me clarify what stimming is, or to use its official title ‘self-stimulatory behaviour’. Or, to put more simply, a repetitive habit. Very often if you ask someone to describe an autistic person, they will tell you it’s someone who flaps their hands vigorously or rocks backwards and forwards. In fact there are multiple ways that ALL humans stim. It may be that you play with your hair, or tap your fingers on the desk, or wiggle your feet up and down. Stimming is not just something that autistic people do, it is what ALL humans do.
Now let’s look at the topic of masking. By masking I mean to be seen or heard as someone you’re not. How many times have you answered a phone call thinking it might be your boss or client, so you put on that slightly more professional, posh voice only to discover it’s actually your mum or your best friend and therefore you drop that tone and become yourself. Or you’ve gone out with a group of friends and someone tells a joke, but you don’t really understand the strapline but everybody else in your group is laughing and therefore you laugh too to cover up that you don’t understand.
Stimming and Masking is common in all human beings but in both cases, women are better at it men. Autistics are better at it than non-autistics, and female autistics are the best.
We specialise in working with autistic people and their families. We may be one of the only small companies in the area that have mentors who are themselves autistic amongst our staff, indeed amongst our company owners, in fact me.
Joyce CoomberSewell