Too Much Information: National Autistic Society launch major awareness campaign
Today, on the eve of World Autism Awareness Day 2016, the National Autistic Society is launching the UK’s biggest ever autism awareness campaign, ‘Too Much Information’.
The campaign is responding to a survey of thousands of autistic people and their families, which showed that the public simply don’t understand enough about autism.
The campaign will help people learn a little more about autism, starting with the Too Much Information campaign film, Can you make it to the end?
More than 1 in 100 people are on the autism spectrum. This means that someone sees, hears and feels the world in a different, often more intense, way to other people.
Autistic people often find social situations difficult and struggle to filter out the sounds, smells, sights and information they experience, which means they can feel overwhelmed by ‘too much information’, particularly when out in public.
To help people experience how an autistic person might feel in a public place and how they might behave in response to being overwhelmed by ‘too much information’, an award-winning director and creative agency, Don’t Panic, have made a film, 'Can you make it to the end?', to launch the charity’s campaign.
The film is shot from the point of view of a young boy experiencing ‘too much information’ as he walks through a shopping centre. It shows how painful and overwhelming it is for the boy - and how much more difficult it is when people make nasty remarks or throw judgmental glares at him and his mother. It concludes with the words: "I’m not naughty: I’m autistic".
The star of the film is 10-year-old Alex Marshall, who is on the autism spectrum. Alex and his family are delighted to be part of the campaign and share the National Autistic Society’s passion to improve public understanding of autism, knowing first-hand why it’s so important that people know more.
Alex’s mum and dad, Ben and Kathryn Marshall, said:
“When Alex was filming, we were watching him from the balcony and there was a woman who gave this look, a little glance.
“Everybody watching with us said, ‘That’s the look!’ We all knew it. It was that split second of contempt which says, ‘why can’t you control your child?’
“As a parent, your focus is on trying to manage the situation. Then you’ve got people walking past you, looking at you. Not only is that upsetting, but it also doesn’t allow you to do what you need to do, because you get more upset.
“So when people are positive about and understand Alex’s autism, it makes a massive difference to all of us.”
Mark Lever, Chief Executive of the National Autistic Society, said:
“Autism means a person’s brain is wired differently. So autistic people hear, see and feel the world in a different way.
“Some people describe themselves as ‘not having a filter’- they can feel and see and smell everything around them and can become overwhelmed from ‘too much information’, particularly in loud, crowded places.
“That’s difficult enough for autistic people and their families to cope with, but they tell us that it’s made much worse by the tuts, stares or comments from passers-by. Half of people affected by autism that we surveyed say that sometimes they sometimes don’t leave their homes because they’re so worried about these kind of judgemental responses.
“We know the public want to be understanding towards autistic people, but the problem is that they don’t ‘see’ the autism. Instead they see a ‘strange’ man pacing back and forth in a shopping centre, or a ‘naughty’ girl having a tantrum on a bus, and don’t know how to respond.
“Little changes and a basic understanding could transform the lives of the more than 1 in 100 autistic people in the UK, and their families, allowing them to go to shops, the cinema, and work in the way other people take for granted.”
The charity is asking that if people see someone visibly distressed or anxious, as if they could be getting ‘too much information’, that they follow the following three steps:
- T - Take time.
- M - Make space.
- I - Imagine what it might feel like to be overloaded and empathise with the person.
