Key is being proud of who I am... and to educate others

AslAm campaigner opens up on his journey for World Autism Day

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MY mum always says that I never do anything until I am ready and then I do it very quickly.

From birth, I had a huge attachment to her in particular, and she couldn't put me out of her arms without me seeking her out or becoming distressed. I didn't sleep in my own bed until I was seven years old. The world felt a very overwhelming place. It was too noisy, too busy, too smelly, too demanding. Other children didn't seem to share my passionate interests.

Going to new places or dealing with the day-to-day stressors of pre-school, family occasions or changes in plan could be very distressing. I would seek out quiet corners away from others in pre-school, but couldn't explain why I needed to.

When I was diagnosed, my parents found that others in our community didn't necessarily know what it meant to be autistic. Growing up in the late 1990s and early 2000s, my own family's attitudes to autism were positive, but the narrative and mood music surrounding autism were anything but. It was against this backdrop that I started my education in a special school, far from my community, in the millennium year.