In the run up to National Autism Awareness Month, March’s autism news showed us that sometimes the support act can be just as good as the main event, if not a tough act to follow.

From the announcements you should probably keep an eye on, to the moments which you definitely won’t want to miss, here are my picks for the best autism related news of March 2018 (as always, links to the full stories can be accessed by clicking on the red titles and the bold headings).

Honourable Mentions:

(Photo Credit: Keep the Change)

With the world of autism moving so fast, it is often the case that there are way more autism announcements I would like to cover, but, for one reason or another can’t. Nevertheless, here are a few extra stories which, I believe, deserve a shout out:

Top 5 Autism News for March 2018:

5) Stim: An Autism Anthology:

This month, Autism Advocate Lizzie Huxley-Jones announced that she had begun work on creating Stim: An Autism Anthology which is to feature stories, essays and art work from a variety of creative minds, all whom share one thing in common: an autistic diagnosis.

The book is currently taking pledge donations before it can be actualised, however, if once the funding goal has been met, Stim will be a must-have for your bookcase/shelf, with stand-out names, such as Laura James and Rachael Lucas already confirmed to contribute.

As well as including already established names, Stim also looks to promote new talent within the autistic community, offering alternative perspectives of unheard voices from those of us on the spectrum.

As of yet, Stim does not have a release date, however, the sooner that the pledge goal is met, the sooner we will have the book in our hands – So do us all a favour, and go pledge as little or as much as you can today!

4) Atypical Season 2 Casting call for Autistic Actors:

(Photo Credit: Netflix)

Earlier this month there were reports that Netflix had put out a casting call looking for two autistic actors to appear in season 2 of their autism focused coming of age series: Atypical. The show which follows autistic high-schooler Sam, who is looking for a romantic relationship, received mostly positive reviews when it was released in August 2017. However, many within the autistic community slammed it, for depicting autism without using an autistic actor. There were also some who objected to the idea that Atypical has been created without an autistic consultant (this statement was later proved false).

Personally, I don’t have a problem with non-autistic actors playing autistic roles – as I believe providing a positive and accurate depiction of autism is something which is much more integral to the progress of the autistic community (although Atypical dropped the ball on this too).

Regardless of these views, this announcement may give some viewers an opportunity to give the show a second chance. Especially after it was confirmed early last week, that two autistic actors had indeed been cast in the roles.

3) Are you Autistic?

(Photo Credit: Channel 4)

On Wednesday 28th March, Channel 4 – a network channel in the UK, broadcast an autism awareness program titled ‘Are You Autistic?’. The show which featured discussions of autism, from community experts and academic studies, provided an easy accessible view of what it’s like to be autist in the modern day.

Centred around two undiagnosed adults JP and Joanne, ‘Are You Autistic?’ also depicted what it can be like for someone to receive an autistic diagnosis (although, on a MUCH faster time scale).

Despite some very ill worded marketing, which described the amount of cases of undiagnosed autists in the UK as at a ‘crisis point’ – something which could (and was) interpreted, by some, to mean that the amount of people with autism is a crisis, ‘Are You Autistic?’ turned out to be a fantastic discussion of autism, and one which has been reacted to with many positive words by both those on and off the spectrum

Highlights of the show included: a lengthy spotlight on autistic women – with an awesome little experiment, which feature four female autists speed dating. It was also nice to see that two of the show’s hosts were autistic themselves. I do want to mention that Anna Richardson (the show’s third host) often felt quite patronising in the way she delivered her lines, but this is more a personal view than anything else.

2) The Autism Professionals Awards

(Photo Credit: Network Autism)

As always, March 2018 began with the annual autism professional awards, hosted in Harrogate on the 7th.

The evening, which was dedicated to recognising the incredible and important work which goes on within the autism community, was the sixth to take place, and gave out 15 awards in recognition of the many of the silent heroes within the autistic community.

Although everyone who attended is, in their own way, incredible, there were three winners who stood out for me:

  • Ashley High School: An autism, Asperger’s and social communication high school, for 11-19 years olds, which offers incredible opportunities, such as specialised learning environments and German study exchange programmes.
  • Mandy Garford whose packed list of activities within 2017, can’t be done any justice by this summary (so check her out for yourself by following this link).
  • Laura James: A journalist, columnist and author, who has been mentioned so many times within recent posts, that by now she deserves her own category on the site.

Dishonourable Mention:

Before we look at the number 1 piece of autism news, for this month, let’s quickly look at one story, from the autistic community which made my blood boil:

On 29th March 2018, during a discussion in parliament about autism (and during World Autism Awareness Week no less), Kevin Hopkins MP decided to waste many minutes of this vital meeting by commenting on old and outdated autism studies which link a child having autism to a parent drinking alcohol whilst pregnant.

What strikes me as most bizarre about presenting this redundant point during his speech, is that Hopkins himself stated that none of studies he had read concluded that autism is caused by alcohol.

I understand that Hopkins in no way intended the remarks to be malicious, but this behaviour only serves to potentially spread lies about people with autism into society, whilst making him look and sound like a fool to the wider autistic community.

As of writing this, I am unable to explain whether there have been any repercussions of Hopkins statement. However, regardless of his intentions, I believe that action must be taken which sees him disciplined or at the very least includes a public apology from the MP. But until that news comes, let’s get back to the top 5 list.

1) World Autism Awareness Week

Surely to nobody’s surprise, this month’s biggest autism-related moment was that of World Autism Awareness Week. Beginning with the release of the National Autistic Societies new autism awareness film: Diverted and escalating from there, over the past 5 days, autism has been the main topic of conversation from schools to offices – even becoming the 2nd highest trending hash tag on Twitter for the first two days.

As mentioned in the Dishonourable mentions, Autism Awareness was even a topic of discussion in the House of Commons this week, a topic which has been alluded to over the previous days with members of parliament (including both Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn) wearing purple Autism Awareness Badges.

At the time of posting this, there are still 2 days left of autism awareness week which I will be unable to discuss. However, if they are anything like the days before, you’re going to want to keep an eye out for anything autism related.

Carry on the Conversation:

Following on from this month’s number 1 entry, today I wanted to ask the question ‘what has everyone been up to for autism awareness week?’. This can be a charity event, a conversation you overheard or just something you watched, like ‘Are You Autistic?’, let me know your answers by filling in the comment box below.

As always, I can also be found on Twitter @AutismRevised and via my email: AutisticandUnapologetic@gmail.com.

If you like what you have seen on the site today, then show your support by liking the Autistic & Unapologetic Facebook page and signing up to the Autistic & Unapologetic newsletter (found on the side bar on laptops and underneath if you are reading this via mobile).

Thank you for reading and I will see you next Saturday for more thoughts from across the spectrum.