Branch Out Together is a local charity established by families with autistic children. Our aim is to give young people with autism access to the things everybody else can take for granted, to give them the confidence and opportunity to get out there and explore the world in a safe and comfortable way, so it’s not scary or difficult. I’m keen to see our families do the same things as other families, reducing some of the stresses and strains you feel as the parent of an autistic child.
I’ve been an Edinburgh resident for some time and have a daughter with autism, so I do understand the challenges that families with autistic children face attending the festivals – the busyness, the complete manic-ness of what goes on and how difficult it is for young people with autism to feel comfortable in that busy, busy setting. So we decided to try and find ways to take away some of the anxiety the families face.
A lot of what we do as an organisation is to help people overcome the anxieties associated with the new and unknown, such as the stress of getting into a show. But sometimes this gets turned on its head. Some years ago, a social worker colleague was working with a young man who really loved a particular show – there was a particular moment where the performer disappeared from sight and then came out of a hidden trap door into the middle of the audience, a big surprise. This young man really loved that moment. Some people with autism have an episodic memory, so things are fresh for them every time they see it, even though they’ve seen it before. The young man used to sit and wait for the point when the artist came out of the floor, and chose a seat next to the hidden exit. He was there every performance for a week and it began to make the performer quite anxious, probably slightly dreading seeing the young man in the audience. So, the anxiety was switched onto the performer, seeing this young man leap up in the air with joy every time he came out of the floor. Moments like that change the dynamic in how we look at autism in a particular setting and the impact they can have on others – I like that sense of switching things around.
