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This April, for Autism Acceptance Month, we’re celebrating differences. Every journey with autism is unique and whether it’s your personal experience or that of your child and family, your story can help others feel seen, understood, and supported.

As part of Autism Acceptance Month, we’ve invited autistic individuals, parents, caregivers, and families to share their experiences and were overwhelmed by the response.

Today, we would love to introduce you to Roger:

In 1974 my son Richard,aged two and a half, contracted a virus, probably a form of encephalitus. When he recovered my wife and I were devastated to find he had suffered brain damage and displayed all the symptoms of what we later found to be autism.Ii must be remembered that in the 1970s little was known of autism so we spent the next four years travelling from one hospital consultant to another in search of a diagnosis but with no result. Finally we saw a paediatrician who told us he had read some research on a new syndrome called autism. He referred us to Professor Michael Rutter at the Maudesley Hospital who was then the leading expert in the field of autism. After a day at the Maudesley we finally received a diagnosis; Richard displayed the classic symtoms of autism. Strange as it may seem this was an enormous relief to us; we now had a starting point for action. Professor Rutter must have had considerable influence; Richard , although he was seven had been rejected by our local school and had never been to school. Professor Rutter had summoned a representative of Essex County Education Commitee to our consultation and demanded to know why Richard was not in education and that he expected that he be in a school within a month!
Now came the amazing part of our story. Just a short time previously a new school set up by a group of parents who, like us , had found no school for their autistic children to go, had set up a charity called The Essex Society for Autistic Children and had opened a school in Kelvedon. So within a month Richard was attending Doucecroft School as a day pupil and our lives were transformed. My wife and I joined the Executive Commitee which ran the charity under the chairmanship of John Seymour, an inspirational patron and leader.Alongside him were dedicated prrofessionals like John Jones and Robin Twinn who gave generously and freely of their time and expertise. Parents such as Chris and Ann Andrews, Andy and Val Beevers, Alan and Rosemary Deakin and ourselves made up the executive which ran tha school. All of us contined to fundraise to support the work of the school and the Society.
Over the next ten years the school grew and thrived under the leadership of Ian Ashton and Kathy Cranmer . We saw huge progress in Richard in terms of behaviour, social awreness and social and practical skills. The benefits to us as parents and as a family were incalculable.
Of course the great worry for parents was, and probably still is, what happens when their children leave the education system. So the Executive began looking at properties and exploring funding for lifelong care for severely disabled autistic adults. After exhaustive searching we found and bought Peldon Old Rectory.
The rest is history; The Essex Autistc Society became part of Autism Anglia, now a much larger professionally administered charity, still working tirelessly to support a wide ranging number of children and adults on the autistic spectrum.
As for Richard he continues to live happily at Seymour House on the Peldon Campus where he has lived for some 35 years cared for by a dedicated staff.

A big thank you to Roger from all of us at Autism Anglia. If you would like to know more about what we’re doing this Autism Acceptance Month, click here.