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Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Now, someone who is busy living, Adam Harris, CEO of Autism Charity As I Am. Good morning.
Good morning, Brendan. Thanks for having me in.
And Adam, you've kind of become, if this is not too crass a term, the face of autism in Ireland, probably in recent years. But you've announced you're leaving As I Am after 15 years. And I want to talk to you a bit about the changes for your community in that time. But let's go back first to how and when As I Am started. You were only a teenager when you started it.
Yeah, I was still in secondary school. And I guess I had grown up in an Ireland where we heard a lot about autism, but we didn't necessarily hear a lot from autistic people. Certainly over the course of my growing up, awareness of autism had increased greatly.
but it was still very much in the context of when autistic people face barriers in society, those barriers are because you're autistic, not because you live in a world that isn't designed for autistic people. OK.
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Chapter 2: Why is Adam Harris leaving AsIAm after 15 years?
And I guess growing up at times, it felt a little bit like being a member of a secret society, I think I've said before, because on the one hand, you know lots of people in your community who are autistic. You go to the same groups and therapies and supports. But at the same time, there was a reluctance to talk about it. There was still a pervasive stigma around autism.
And I think as well, there was a reality at times that the discussion of autism was still very much framed around deficit as opposed to around difference. So when I was in secondary school, I set up a blog and I began to write about my experiences. And when I was only a teenager, so it would have been the Christmas that I was in fifth year, I called a public meeting. So I invited...
Through my blog, I invited people to come to Dublin to talk about what, I suppose, an online space in which autistic people's voices could be heard and in which people could learn, not just to be aware of autism, but to understand autistic people, what that could look like.
Chapter 3: How did Adam Harris start the autism charity AsIAm?
So very kindly, the international bar in Dublin let me use the basement of their bar. And we had what essentially became the first meeting of As I Am. And then over the kind of coming year or two when I was still in secondary school and we were preparing for the launch of the charity, a couple of things happened.
So on my blog, I would write about experiences growing up that I thought were unique to me. You know, that feeling of isolation, that feeling of, you know, exhaustion trying to fit in, that feeling of the barriers you're facing coming from other people not understanding.
But as I began to hear from autistic people and as I began to get invited to speak at meetings around the country or to give media interviews, I discovered that those experiences I had growing up were shared experiences by so many autistic people.
That must have been amazing for you personally as well, was it?
It was an incredible experience. And I think it really showed that, you know, that adage of the disability community, nothing about us without us. And I think for far too long, the discourse had been about autism without autistic people. And there was a real need to change that. And it's really from that, that As I Am was born.
And as I was going around the country, I was probably about 18 at this stage. I didn't get out of bed and say, I want to set up a charity. But you learn these are the sort of things you need to do if you want to make a difference. And I would give talks and parents would come and ask me questions about, you know, what's it like to be autistic? When did you find out? How should I tell my child?
And I do my best to answer their questions. And at the end, they'd often say to me, if I can ever do anything to help you, just let me know. And I'm sure there's people at home today who are hearing me say that are saying that was a big mistake.
Yeah.
I said, well, can you, you know, you're in business or you worked in a charity before. You're a clinician. Can you help me set up a board so we can really go somewhere with this? So I ended up on the Late Late Show. I'd written a blog where I said that in Ireland, if you're autistic, people speak to you like you're E.T. And that kind of went viral. And from there, in 2014, we founded As I Am.
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