And finally tonight, the sun was certainly shining on a unique surfing event at Newcastle’s Nobby’s Beach.
More than 200 children hit the water for the inaugural Autism Learn to Surf Day.
Organisers say the fun and physical nature of surfing is proven to help those with autism.
And from what we could see – it certainly helped unearth a few future stars.
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I cannot seem to watch this video, is there any chance I could have it emailed to me my child was at the event and I would love to keep this report, thank you in advance
hi
Really keen to see story on 1st annual surf 4 autism, my computer was broken, & my son attended. Tks in advance 4 response, was not able to watch here on your site??
You mean i really can speak my mind .. instead of having someone else do it for me .. gee thanks !!!
It was a great day .. though it would have been good to at least see a media mention the existence of adult Autistic people , ( like me ) both at the day and in life , given the erroneous notion that autism is a thing that attacks little children and wrecks their lives ( unless one ” trains ” them out of it , at great $ expense , and also which wrecks parents lives , marriages, and , lo ! .. even the fabric of society!! ( we are dramatically presented by non autistics as an ” epidemic “,/ a “tragedy” and we are going to be hopefully one day extinct ..snuffed out by ( “benevolent “) genetic selectivity ?? (so goodbye any future einstein , bill gaits ,many great musicans , carl jung, scientists etc ) .
Did anyone ask US if we would rather have not been born AS AUTISTICS , or if we even identify as us if we are NOT autistic ?
Failure to include adults like me in references to autism perpetuates the stereotyping myth that ASD is especially a child thing , and as such , can be and must be ” treated ” for the sake of that child .. and everyone else .
The denial of our existence also steals from autistic people our OWN voice as it misleads others to suppose theres no autistics out there who can speak for themselves. , only professionals or non ASD parents , or organisations claiming to advocate for autistic people but who refuse to have any of us on their boards, or in other delivery / support roles .( so much for inclusion policies by the funding govt depts )
. Of course , this idea that we dont exist , means funding to those who are seen as our voice (perpetual children dont have one ) .
Perhaps the denial of autistic adults existence ( and therefore VOICE ) serves to convince the public and parents that indeed , we are this sudden “epidemic ” that needs to be ” treated ” ,( remember the grim reaper adverts ?) because if people knew that we are around as older people , it means we have always been here , eating , shi#### , contributing , learning , building things , new thinkings and new bulidings ,whilst also at times stuffing things up , succeeding , challenging the status quo and working and marrying , and loving and , yes , at times suffering ( as humans not as autistics )and then dying of old age .. and yes , ALL WITHOUT ANY KIND OF ” TREATMENT ” .
Such a realisation that we have always been around , your work mates or neighbor , etc would mean we are just another colour of Gods palet / pallet … and NOT some suddenly occurring epidemic . This would affect the autism industry and research $$$ , and therefife jobs ?? ..greatly i expect .
Many autistic adults feel they dont HAVE autism but are Autistic People ( and proud of it… though i had little say in it , i admit ).
People “with neuro typicality ” may be proud of that , too , despite all the socially engineered weaknesses that are part of that ( lying , propensity to fraudulent communications / fragile authenticity , mob mentality/ bullying , materialism , social dependency syndrome etc ).
On a coin you get a head always with a flip side , and many autistics do not wish to lose their heads ( i mean giftings , special passions etc , that often get lost when you take on behaviours that are natural and meaningful to the rest of the non autistic world ( eg teaching eye contact often means an autistic person cant process a word thats said , let alone formulate a sentient response. Do we want the appearance of normal or do we want a meaningful life where we actually connect with others ( even if we do it in a way considered weird ).
The cost of this ” socialisation ” is the connection of the autistic person to the ” soul ” or truth of themselves. ) I believe there are people meant to be on the margins , to contribute not necessarily from the centre of a culture , but who best can , or can ONLY contribute from the fringes , because they stand a bit away from the hub of society and can , in that position , often see and do , and contribute what cant be done from the centre stage .
The mere existence of adult autistics living , doing their things in life, having kids , grandkids etc seems to be suppressed by those who think either that we dont or should not exist .
The reason we are not immediately evident is because in fact , we ARE getting on with things , as adults , yes , living amongst you all !!! despite all the panic spread by the autism industry that unless we are ” treated ” we will either end up in institutions , never have lives worth living and never contribute to our communities .