What does your colour palette look like? What do different colours mean to you? Which shows up the most? For me, I have the passion and love of red, the energy, happiness, and vitality of orange, the nature of green, the responsibility of blue, the mystery of black, and the nature and dependability of brown. Put this all together and what do you get… a pretty interesting piece of cake if you ask me!
In case the theme of this year’s Autism Acceptance Week was still alien to you, the theme of colour has returned for this year to celebrate the occasion. So I thought to start off with, I would share with you the components of my personality and how it shows up in the form of colour. What colours represent your personality?
Individuality is of huge importance. Every individual with Autism is different. Some people might have a lot more of a certain colour that represents more of who they are as a person. So it is about everyone, inside the Autism community and externally, acknowledging everyone’s sense of self, rather than it being any sort of competition for people to be more green or more orange etc. The message is that each person’s individuality is just as important as each other’s.
It's a bit like how our strengths represent. Some people, over history, have had an idea that “Autistic people are always good at X, Y or Z." These assumptions are really unhelpful. However, being curious to hear the stories of the individuals are. One of our clients at Enrych is an incredible artist. They always bring their projects to show us at our community events, whether it be at our Boccia sessions, or the Feel Good Café. Celebrating the unique talents of our clients is something we are super interested in and proud of!
According to the National Autistic Society, only 26% of autistic pupils feel happy at school. This could be due to the pressure to fit in socially, leading to a higher risk of bullying. To address this, it's crucial to develop tailored support networks for autistic individuals to foster a sense of safety and belonging. Our programmes and activities aim to boost self-esteem and social connections. Additionally, only 29% of autistic individuals are employed, which we're actively working to change through our employability programme and initiatives like providing profiling software to identify strengths. With 70% of autistic people experiencing mental health issues, addressing bullying and unhappiness is vital in fostering confidence and facilitating successful employment. We're committed to empowering autistic individuals to find fulfilment in work and beyond.
