"Autism and how much it sucks"

Today I was immensely privileged to work with staff from MacIntyre to support Tom- a student who is nothing short of inspirational.

I was approached only recently and asked if I could support him with a presentation he is going to be giving at the forthcoming Autism Awareness Day in Luton on 17th April 2015, in collaboration with FLAG in Luton. (Flyer can be downloaded here)

Tom has a wicked sense of humour. He has an incredible attention to detail and organisation in his work. He has a great talent for animation and art. He has a wry way of perceiving life and making "normals" feel uncomfortable for being "normal". He has a breathtakingly good presentation up his sleeve. He also has autism. Therefore he may not fully understand that his presentation is not literally "up his sleeve".

Tom is understandably nervous about standing in front of people and presenting. He has already been supported by MacIntyre staff to give his presentation to small groups of people and he is growing visibly in confidence. However, it is no mean feat being able to stand up in front of unfamiliar people, present with unfamiliar technology in an unfamiliar setting. Such a request would strike fear into the hearts of the strongest and most confident, let alone someone with autism.

After discussion and deliberation we found a solution together. I would work with Tom to refine his presentation to a manageable time. I would then record Tom's voice in Garageband as he gave his presentation to me. After that we would be able to split the audio, combine it with his slides from PowerPoint and turn it into a movie which can then be played to the audience.

There was one small unexpected twist in the plan.

He looks at life differently. He sees himself differently. He plays with language differently. The consequence?

Tom's presentation is laugh out loud funny.

I was so relieved that I listened to Tom presenting before we started recording as we would have to have deleted the first version anyway due to my giggling and laughing throughout his talk; and the microphone is so sensitive it would also have picked up the vibrations of my shoulders.

With this behind us, we decided to record the whole presentation in manageable bursts. It took time. Valuable time. Quality time.

A reminder: Autism Awareness Day in Luton is on Friday 17th April 2015. If you are available, please come along and bask in the glory of Tom and find out about "Autism and How Much It Sucks" and be prepared to LAUGH.

I will be working with Tom again to put the finishing touches to his wonderful, inspirational, incisive, illuminating, moving presentation. We may all need bigger sleeves.