On the 2nd of April, the National Autism Society (NAS) from the UK launched a video to kick off a campaign entitled “Too Much Information”, the biggest ever UK campaign, to help the public better understand how autistic people experience the world. The campaign responds to a survey of thousands of autistic people and their families, which showed that the public simply don’t understand enough about autism.
The video explores the scenario of an autistic child displaying what can be perceived as disruptive behaviour from onlookers, but reframed in the context of autism. It aims to raise awareness of the fact that sometimes such behaviour can be symptomatic of having autism (due to sensory overload for example), as opposed to an individual being voluntarily disruptive.
The video therefore falls in line with the theme of Autism-Europe’s campaign “Respect, Acceptance, Inclusion”, in that the wellbeing of people with autism and their families can be greatly improved just by the simple fact of people being able to recognise autism and understand it a bit better. This will free autistic people and their families from a fear of unfair judgment and help others in their community take a different approach, accepting people with autism them as they are, with all their autistic traits included.