autism – Michmutters

Six-year-old Ava Renwood is an aspiring athlete with big dreams of a career in sport.

But her mum Ashleigh Brook fears her options are limited by the lack of inclusivity and understanding of athletes with autism.

The Brisbane mum said her daughter “lives and dies” for her weekly gymnastics, cheerleading and dance classes.

“Ava wakes up in the morning [at] like 7am, and it is ‘what gym classes do I have today?'” Ms Brook said.

After approaching local sport clubs to take her daughter to the next level in sport, Ms Brook was advised to send her to disability-only groups.

“It is great that they have a division for these athletes, but again, [it’s] not inclusive,” she said.

“[It’s] very like putting them in their own bubble.”

Mum Ashleigh and Ava smile — Ava’s mum Ashleigh Brook says there needs to be more inclusive clubs for children with disability.(ABC News: Mark Leonardi)

With Ava eager to compete with her peers, Ms Brook is unsure she can find an inclusive club next season.

“It is kind of one of those situations where I am questioning is there going to be somewhere,” Ms Brook said.

Sporting events for students of all abilities

Charlotte Kanowski holds her medal — Charlotte Kanowski with her medal after she won the Queensland School Sports triathlon’s multi-class autism without an intellectual disability category.(ABC News: Marton Dobras)

Fourteen-year-old Charlotte Kanowski is an accomplished triathlon, marathon and aquathon athlete.

She was also the first and only student to compete in Queensland School Sports triathlon’s multi-class autism without an intellectual disability category.

“I was proud of myself when I got the medal and finished the race,” Charlotte said.

Charlotte Kanowski competing. — Charlotte Kanowski competing in the Noosa triathlon.(Supplied)

Multi-class events allow students with disabilities to participate in an inclusive environment.

The events are currently offered in triathlon, cross country, swimming and track and field events.

The Department of Education said this year for the first time, students with autism can also compete in multi-class events in the Queensland School Sport State Swimming Championships and State Triathlon.

Charlotte’s mum Jessica Kanowski said creating inclusive sport environments is about implementing “reasonable adjustments”.

“I think having that multi-class does provide an opportunity for them to have a go, but in a comfortable setting,” she said.

“Ultimately, you would want it to be fully inclusive and all the kids going together and having a go.

“We need to be inclusive and allow access to all of our children so that they can reach their dreams.”

The Brisbane mum said she had been fortunate in finding inclusive sports for her daughter, but it had not come without its challenges.

“It can be tricky to find an instructor who is educated and knows what reasonable adjustments to put in place,” she said.

Charlotte Kanowski with her parents and little sister – who all support her during her competitions.(ABC News: Marton Dobras)

Ms Kanowski said it was important for coaches to understand all children on the spectrum have different “sensory profiles.”

“It is a spectrum for that reason, they are all different,” she said.

“When [Charlotte] does have a moment or may have a meltdown, that it is normal for her.

“That’s her emotions bubbling over and that is how she expresses them, and it is part of being autistic.”

Seeing her daughter shine in competitions, fills Ms Kanowski with pride.

“Makes me feel like she is out there giving it a go, and I’m really proud of her,” she said.

Sporting clubs ‘fearful of the unknown’

The Special Olympics’ Queensland coordinator Kim Lawley said many sports clubs were “fearful of the unknown” around athletes with autism.

“Once you get them out on a track or a field or a court, they are an athlete, and they want to participate and train,” she said.

“It’s just breaking down those barriers and those fears of the unknown.”

She said many athletes with disabilities struggle to be accepted into sporting groups, including her own brother.

“There was no opportunity for my brother to play sport, so we made that happen for him [at the Special Olympics],” Ms Lawley said.

Kim smiles on an athletics track. — Special Olympics’ Kim Lawley says many athletes with autism struggle to be accepted into sporting groups.(ABC News: Sarah Richards)

She said the Special Olympics has helped create inclusive sporting opportunities for athletes with intellectual disabilities and autism, with her brother going on to play basketball and golf nationally.

“It is about education of coaches, it is inclusion, and it’s just reminding coaches anywhere in Australia, in the world that they are athletes,” she said.

National athlete leadership coordinator for Special Olympics Australia, Susie Bennett-Yeo, said she hoped one day athletes with intellectual disabilities and autism could be accepted and welcomed by any sports team.

“I would love to just see some of the athletes I know, just to be able to go along to their local basketball competition and say, ‘I’d like to play basketball’ and they go, ‘that’s great’,” she said .

‘The next national stars’ falling through the cracks

Australian Sports Commission spokesperson said it believed everyone should be able to participate in sport.

“It is important that sporting bodies, from local clubs through to national sporting organisations, reflect the diversity in the communities they are a part of,” a spokesperson said.

Hannah Gadsby’s memoir, Ten Steps to Nanette, opens at the scene of a fancy Hollywood garden party at the home of actress Eva Longoria.

Celebrities are queuing to talk to Gadsby, whose Netflix comedy special, Nanette, had just sucker punched the world.

But the world-famous comedian extracts herself from a conversation with celebrated singer-songwriter Janelle Monáe to examine the preternaturally green lawn underfoot.

It’s an immediate insight into Gadsby’s brain, where thoughts and ideas bubble over — often clashing abruptly with the real world.

“My world is so much different than it was five years ago. I cannot explain how different it is,” she tells ABC RN’s Big Weekend of Books.

She’s referring not only to the global success of Nanette and its follow-up show, Douglas, but also to her 2017 diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder and ADHD.

“It was an eye-opening thing, to start to understand that you think differently,” Gadsby says.

‘Begin at not normal’

Ten Steps to Nanette details Gadsby’s quest to understand her own biology, beginning in her conservative and isolated hometown in north-west Tasmania.

Her memories from childhood and her teen years have jagged edges, often tinged with self-loathing and confusion over her sexuality and neurodiversity.

“Back then, I wasn’t aware that women could have autism — it’s not part of the popular conversation,” she says.

After decades of mental health struggles, the diagnosis came as “a revelation.”

“Once you get the diagnosis, particularly if you’re diagnosed later in life, it comes as no surprise,” Gadsby says.

“It’s given me more solid ground to stand on.

“Before my diagnosis, I was just trying to make sense of myself in front of an audience, and now I can just sit back and relax and think, ‘Well, I’m atypical, so that’s where I begin.’

“It’s freed me up in a lot of ways. I’m not trying to twist myself to feel normal, I’m just standing straight and going, ‘Well, we can begin at not normal and move off from there.'”

Gadsby recounts how she was told she was “too fat” and “too female” to be autistic.(Supplied)

A large part of the memoir is dedicated to explaining how Gadsby’s autism functions: how the color blue (which she wears exclusively) calms her frazzled synapses; how the clink of a teacup hitting a saucer causes her tangible pleasure; how art history helps her make sense of a bewildering world.

“Of course, everyone on the spectrum has a different experience, but from what I understand, talking to a lot of people from my community, it’s like we think about ourselves inside our own body before how other people perceive us,” she tells ABC RN.

“Often that leads to bullying at school, but as you get older, I think it becomes slightly more freeing, as you understand yourself and the contortions you don’t want to fold yourself into anymore.”

She also writes, with painful clarity, about the challenges of negotiating and communicating as an autistic person in a sometimes hostile world.

“We move through a world where every space is demanding every inch of our attention,” she says.

“We don’t think about the aesthetic of things in terms of our own safety; we tend to think of that as icing on the cake, as opposed to just being a nurturing environment important to our mental health.

“I honestly think that if people on the spectrum designed our physical spaces, there’d be a lot less rage.”

Crafting a cultural reset

For Gadsby, crafting Nanette was a process of working with her autism and ADHD to present her trauma as a social and political statement.

In the last part of the book, she describes the various cues and fail-safes she invented to tip-toe around meltdowns and shut-downs triggered by the material she was exploring.

It’s this courage and vulnerability that shot her to superstardom after Nanette aired.

“The work I do on stage is pretty much [me] just learning on the go, and then I almost do a report and go, ‘This is what I’m learning at the moment’ — that’s certainly what Nanette was,” she says.

“That’s the spirit in which I approach new work, just trying to keep living my life as best I can, and then reporting on the lessons learned or unlearned.”

In Ten Steps to Nanette, Gadsby describes how she learned to listen to her body both on and off-stage, so she could safely revisit traumatic events in her past.(Supplied: Netflix/Ben King)

This can be tough for her family, some of whom learned of her past abuse for the first time during a live show.

“From the moment I started doing comedy, I was mining my personal life, particularly growing up,” Gadsby says.

“[My family has] grown up with me, from the smaller stakes, in front of 10 people at the Adelaide fringe, to Sydney Opera House, beaming around the globe.

“It’s a constant conversation we’re having; we’re certainly a lot closer. They’ve had to process some stuff, as I have.”

While her loved ones (including new wife Jenney Shamash) are supportive, the comedian is no stranger to rejection.

“You just know that a certain section of the community is not going to enjoy your very existence, and there’s not much to be done about that,” she says.

“You just have to work on those who have an open mind and a caring heart.”

It’s a level of maturity and self-knowledge Gadsby says would awe her younger self.

“I always feel like if I went back in time, I’d scare the absolute shit out of myself. Me as a kid, I was not ready to know what I know now.”

A moment for diverse voices

In Ten Steps to Nanette, Gadsby explains how the intersection of her queerness and autism is a cornerstone of her identity.

After all, she grew up in a region infamous for its homophobic vitriol, in a state where homosexuality was illegal until 1997.

Douglas, like Nanette, offers a blistering critique of heteronormative patriarchy.(Supplied: Netflix/Ali Goldstein)

She’s pleased to see more diverse stories being told in art and the media, but is quick to acknowledge that her position is one of privilege.

“I think the more voices the merrier, and we’re really experiencing that, particularly with queer representation. We’re seeing a real moment for a diverse range of autistic voices, which is heartening.

“I don’t think that the comfort that I’m feeling is necessarily available to a lot of people on the spectrum. I think there [are] a lot of people who go undiagnosed, and certainly, the queer autistic community is really underserved.”

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