Francesca Baird: Blogging about Autism – Embracing Normal Life

The following is a short extract from my book: ‘Label Me: My Journey Towards an Autism Diagnosis’

Autism and Embracing ‘Normal Life’

As you are now probably aware, I can deal with challenges and setbacks in life, but one thing I am not so good at is embracing “normality”. I can live with it for a couple of days before panic kicks in and, for the sake of my health, I have no option but to revert back to a fantasy world…

I am sorry to say it (much to my parents’ disappointment), but the status quo – tidying my flat, cooking nice meals and spending my hard earned cash on a holiday – only serves to exasperate my anxiety due to a change to my routine. It just won’t do it for me. According to my father, becoming a well rounded person (one who is skilled in a lot of different things) equates to success. On that premise, if this is true, then, to be blunt, I am fucked.

I am definitely someone who knows a little about something and nothing about a lot. I have narrow interests and I am not prepared to escape my comfort zone to obtain a little knowledge about any subject that is unrelated to my current goal or obsession. Moreover, I would have thought that to become a well rounded individual, you must have a thirst for knowledge about an array of topics and be able to, and want to, prioritise your time to allow for such learning. I suspect this requires a myriad of comprehensive attributes, such as versatility and having a flexible and broad mind, all of which I lack.

I operate in a very haphazard way and my priorities are, as some would argue, skewed (although they don’t seem that way to me). Tasks that people deem as essential, and which perhaps contribute to the development of a well rounded person, are at the bottom of my to do list.

This picture was taken in my son’s bedroom – not an industrial unit as one might expect.

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