April is World Autism Awareness Month. It aims to raise awareness about the condition. This short video by a British schoolboy with autism is a great introduction for pupils to see how he experiences life and school, and the benefits of help he has received.
This video was produced for Comic Relief for the 2023 Red Nose Day. It's subtitled for accessibility. He describes both the advantages and the difficulties of autism, and how a horse-riding charity, Autism Angels, funded by Comic Relief, has helped him manage his emotions better and feel more comfortable both at school and at home.
Most of the language and situations will be familiar to students from their own lives, and it's understandable from A2 with help.
Raising Awareness
The American charity Autism Speaks is asking the public to sign a pledge to champion inclusivity and stand up against the bullying two-thirds of autistic students experience.
The British National Autistic Society focuses its fundraising and awareness campaigns around the idea of a colour spectrum, emphasising that autism is a spectrum disorder, which effects different people very differently. As Robyn Steward and Jamie Knight, the presenters of the BBC's amazing podcast 1800 Seconds on Autism regularly remind listeners, "When you've met one person with autism, you've met one person with autism."
For more on this topic, check out our Reading Guide for The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon, which is on the LLCER 1re reading list.
Tag(s) : "autism" "bullying" "disabilities" "diversity" "inclusion" "Red Nose Day" "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time" "videos"