The myth of autism as a lack of empathy and emotion is just that . The little group I was privileged to support this year would be deemed ‘severe’ , ‘complex’ , ‘challenging’. This is another myth. In truth yes our year was complex and not without its challenge’s, but through these ‘challenges’ we learnt, we grew , we achieved. Not in the way that can be evidenced in a folder , on a system or certified. Co- regulation is not measured in this way , neither is learning to cope better in a world that isn’t designed for us – for me or this amazing little group. We learnt to better navigate the world around us and most importantly the power of connections. The hours spent co regulating , persevering with responding to the same 3 phrases all day , communicating in the safe, predictable way they need in reality kept us all safer both within crisis and in preventing it. Looking outward it was so much more than that , it was the power of humanity and connection.

Not everyone gets it , maybe there’s something in having a non typical way of processing life, maybe I missed some aspects other teachers wouldn’t have , maybe I caught what others missed. The problem with this is I’ll never know. Whether my very vocal and constant way of fighting any perceived injustice was indeed justified. It’s not that I don’t care about the relationships with colleagues in truth I think the world of so many of them ,I just have no processing left to navigate the impossible world of the staff room.

That’s the problem of feeling everything more , feeling it as our children do but being privileged to understand the world better, to not be as overwhelmed and scared by life. To absorb and process it with them , it takes everything, it’s also worth everything.

So yes the myth of autism as a lack of Empathy and emotion could not be further from the truth .