More information lets adults explore their experiences with autism

“It was nice to be alone. It was a new environment and the idea of ​​meeting people terrified me. It was comfortable to isolate myself in silence and without social contact,” actress and educator Fabrícia Eliane wrote in her eponymous text set. atypical mini-memories. The works reflect what it was like to live 37 years without knowing that he had a mild autistic disorder. The diagnosis was made a little over two years ago as she sought treatment for her son’s difficulties.

On World Autism Awareness Day (2), celebrated today, the educator reveals that she has always noticed some oddities in Arthur, who was 9 years old at the time of diagnosis. However, it was her problems keeping up with the pace of school that prompted the family to seek more consistent support to deal with these barriers. “He grew up and had difficulties with reading and writing in school. It was very difficult to do the tasks,” he says.

Long before that, she had noticed that the boy was not coping well with certain everyday situations. Ever since she was a baby, I noticed she had a lack of attention, probably because it was difficult to breastfeed, there was any outside noise, and she was very distracted,” she recalls.

More information available

The identification of the disorder came as a shock to Fabrícia. “How do I not notice, as a super attentive mom, an educator?” he asked himself. “After going through this period of self-blame, I started working on understanding how I could contribute better,” she says. The deepening of the research led the educator to perceive many of the hallmarks of autism within himself.

Adults in their 25s or 30s who are on the mild autism spectrum today are not diagnosed as children, according to Erasmo Barbante Casella, a childhood and adolescence neurologist at Albert Einstein Hospital. “During this period, doctors were not trained in university, in residency, in what autism is. There was difficulty in detecting milder cases,” he emphasizes. According to him, information on the subject has become much more common in the last 10 years.

Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder that can cause difficulties in verbal and nonverbal communication and affect sociality.

Even today, diagnosis isn’t always easy, and some families sometimes resist admitting to the condition, according to Casella. “We as fathers are sometimes in denial, afraid to listen. You start to get suspicious, people have fingers full to talk about,” he says. He says it’s common for the family to report suspicion at the end of a consultation that is motivated by other reasons “when everyone else is already on their feet”.

conflicts

Fabrícia believes that, in addition to the lack of knowledge from doctors when she was younger, more introverted behaviors due to autism meet some social expectations. “When you’re a woman, being more reserved, more shy are considered qualities. That’s why it’s often overlooked, you try to mask everything you attract, everything you feel,” she thinks.

She also encounters conflicts herself, Fabrícia says, as she is not understood as a more complex situation beyond personality trait. It was difficult to make friends in school and college, and there were differences even in the relationship with the partner she. “She wanted to go to bars, go out at night. I felt very uncomfortable. I had a lot of fights over this problem,” she says.

He explains that noise and social interaction cause anxiety and a deep emptiness. “When I spend a lot of time with other people, when I have to socialize, it gets very tiring. If you stay too long, it’s like you’ve unplugged. Sometimes you get a headache, you get sick”, that’s the details.

Fabrícia believes that if she had known about her condition earlier, she could have made better decisions about how to pursue her personal and professional life. “If I had had this early diagnosis, maybe I could have targeted these choices more towards my potential,” she says.

For example, it reflects the teaching profession. “While there are a few things I love about working with children, there are other things that attack me and prevent me from working. It’s frustrating,” she says.

early diagnosis

Erasmo Casella explains that once the disorder is detected in childhood, it is possible to work with different forms of stimuli to overcome the challenges children face. “Some are thriving and very functional. The quality of life of children who are properly treated is completely different,” he says.

Diagnosis of autism can be made by professionals such as child neurologists, child psychiatrists, and developmental pediatricians, according to the doctor. Multidisciplinary follow-up may include motivational therapy and speech therapy.

The complexity of autism makes the disorder difficult to diagnose and treat, according to Casella. “It’s not easy, because everything is so expensive. A professional can handle a few cases. Care services for children with autism need to be set up with a multidisciplinary team,” she says.

Knowing his own situation prompted Fabrícia to work on this issue in different ways. “Being on stage is when I feel like I can be myself. There’s a mask that protects me, but it reveals a lot,” she says.

On stage, traits emerge that have marked his life and his relationship with other people. One of them is that he has difficulty in understanding the jokes he shares with his son. There, left and right, there are still minor confusions and other details that are often not noticed by those who live with it. “I’ve had years of training in clowning. In clowning, without forcing others to laugh, you finally reveal what you are,” he says.

While Fabrícia deals with her own problems, she also helps Arthur, now 12, with his pre-adolescent autism challenges. “She always asks me what to do—’I wash my hair today or I don’t,'” she exemplifies. Slowly, she tries to guide him to find the answer himself. “Did you wash yesterday? How is the weather today, is it humid?” he says, trying to get the boy to think. “I’m trying as much as I can so that he has autonomy”.