Autism Acceptance Week: “I was always classed as the ‘weird kid’ who nobody wanted to talk to”

For Autism Acceptance Week, we’re sharing a story from Tom Hewitt, 32, who works at the Trust as an IT Service Desk Analyst. Tom was diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome (now known as autism) at the age of 18 and talks about his experiences growing up, being classed as ‘the weird kid’ at school, his struggles with social interactions and how he found it hard to fit in. He also suffers from Generalised Anxiety Disorder, (GAD), a long-term condition which causes a person to feel anxious about a wide range of situations and issues, rather than one specific event.

Tom is really proud to work for Nottinghamshire Healthcare and says since day one, the Trust has welcomed and accepted him into the organisation, and for the first time in a long time, he feels proud to say that he works not for, but with a company that looks after and respects its employees like him. 

Thomas (Tom) Hewitt, IT Service Desk Analyst

“You don’t look autistic”

World Autism Acceptance Week takes place from 27 March to 2 April.  Autism is a lifelong developmental disability which affects how people communicate and interact with the world. There are approximately 700,000 autistic adults and children in the UK.

Dave Pooley is Neurodevelopmental Transitions Lead for the Adult Mental Health Service at Nottinghamshire Healthcare.  The service is just 6 months old however it has received just over 100 referrals to meet the mental health needs of adults with neurodevelopmental conditions within Adult Mental Health (AMH) services who are transitioning.

Dave shares his reflections of autism and how it affected him growing up.

The A Word: fact or fiction?

The A Word is a BBC One drama about a family struggling to come to terms with 5 year old Joe being diagnosed with autism. We asked Autism Spectrum Disorder Nurse Consultant Jacqueline Dziewanowska, who works with adults with autism, what she thought to the programme.

Feeling on the outside

I often hear stories of childhood experiences very similar to those shown in the programme. The parent’s experience of inviting the whole class to a birthday party and their child never being invited to other children’s parties. The experience of other adults judging when the child has a meltdown, people staring in supermarkets and the parent feeling a failure because their child is different.

What was portrayed sensitively was when Joe’s mum stays outside and watches Joe in the playground. The pain she feels as Joe stands by himself against the wall in the playground is a scene that both parents and the person with autism can often remember well.