For a while I’ve done quite a bit of work photographing events for Hampshire Autistic Society. I’ve grown attached to the team of fundraisers there … Sally, Gemma and Kerry … apart from they are absolutely top people … I’ve photographed Sally’s wedding, Kerry has house sat Mr Monty for me when I’ve been skiing and Gemma, like Sally and Kerry, has that ‘unknown something’ that makes you feel good when they are around. On top of all that they’re all quite hot and make photographs look that little bit better 
Anyway, recently I had a wedding coming up where one of the bridesmaids was autistic and realised I’d never actually met someone with autism. Prior to the wedding I was a little unsure what to expect and started Googling … but I wasn’t any the wiser than what I remembered from the Rain Man movie.
The Thursday prior to the wedding I met this guy at the James Bond premiere who was a helper for people with Autism. We were having a great conversation about all things related but then the auction kicked in and I was only a little bit more the wiser.
Friday, I was in Tesco’s Bursledon and going down the escalator while a couple of women with a boy aged around 10 or 11 were going up. The escalator was full and all quite quiet apart from the automated voices warning you that you were approaching the end of the run. Suddenly this little chap burst out shouting something and his body jolted in a way that he didn’t seem entirely in control about. My eyes opened and I was taken aback … not in disgust which did seem the expression of a few on the escalator, but the sudden shock of it all from silence to mayhem in a split second. I might be wrong but all of a sudden all the bits that I had Google’d seemed to whisper in my ear.
Saturday morning I was in wedding photography mode and got to where the Bride was getting ready and suddenly remembered … how am I meant to act with someone suffering with Autism. As soon as I saw her wearing her F1 Maclaren Hamilton shirt I knew that this was someone I’d get on with and I would act the same as any other time I’d been in a situation unsure of ‘how to act’ … and that was be myself. This girl was excited at the camera (amongst what seemed a million other things) for a few seconds and was happy looking at the images on the back until her attention was whisked away as quick as it had arrived.
To me, from what little I’ve learned about autism it is like something takes control of the brain and occasionally lets the person into the lives of those around them. When they are ‘away from you’ you so wonder what they are seeing and hearing.
I hope none of the above has offended anyone that is touched by autism … I’m guessing I’ve used some words that are totally politically incorrect within this blog post as it’s a subject completely new to me. If so, please accept my apologies as I’m on the starting leg of something I hope to become a lot more aware of and help if I can.
As someone meeting someone with Autism for a single day I can only imagine I’m seeing things through rose tinted glasses … my thoughts wonder about what it must be like for adults with autism or parents living daily when their child has autism.
With this, my chosen charity for 2009 is Hampshire Autistic Society. And to start there’s a little bit of fund raising with the photograph at the top of this blog post on Ebay.
