Jay is 17 years old and identifies as non-binary.
Jay attended our Teen Autism Confident programme.
At the first group session Jay appeared to be very anxious whilst they waited for others to arrive. This was noticed by our Autism Specialist Advisor, and they engaged with Jay and introduced some games to help distract and reduce Jay’s anxiety.
Because our Advisor and Jay were already playing, when the other group members arrived, they joined in the game after observing for a while. This approach worked well as an ice breaker, as the young people felt no direct pressure to initiate interaction.
During session one, Jay felt able to contribute a comment in a session, which was well received and accepted by their peers. This noticeably boosted Jay’s confidence to join in further.
As the weeks progressed, Jay became more confident, contributing to group discussions and sharing their personal feelings and experiences.
Jay felt able to share their contact details with others in the group and appeared to be much more positive when talking about being autistic in the group discussions.
During one session the group were discussing going out socially, and Jay shared that they would struggle to ask people to meet up. Another young person, with the help of a parent, messaged some from the group, including Jay, and they arranged to meet. They independently planned their journey and travelled to meet one another in Solihull to go ice skating. The young people then travelled back to Birmingham where they went for food together.
Jay was so proud that they had made friends and had managed to travel independently and were happy to have had such a positive experience. It was such a big confidence boost for them.
Following the end of the support Jay fed back how much their confidence had grown. Since completing the course, they have gone on to give some talks for parents and other young people to help them to accept and understand an autism diagnosis. Jay shared how far they had come and that they used to feel physically sick in school when they had to speak in front of people. Jay went on to say that the lack of demand on them to contribute and the response they received really helped them to engage and realise the impact that understanding, and acceptance can have on the lives of others.
