Читать книгу Not Stupid - Anna Kennedy - Страница 7

Thankfully, the vast majority of families rarely need to trouble themselves with thoughts of coping day by day with the complex needs of loved ones whose lives have been blighted by either physical or mental conditions. That’s not to say these families go through life without any problems but, when you compare their lives with those who find each day and night a battle to get through, few of them really take the time to fully appreciate their good fortune. I count myself among that number. In fact, until I was invited to help write this book, I had little awareness of how devastating living with autism in its various forms could be.

The chances are, however, that, by picking up this book, you have been touched in some way by the condition. You may be a parent, relative or friend of someone diagnosed with autism or someone coping with it as a carer. Alternatively, you could be someone in the world of the teaching or caring professions whose contact with autism may be limited but you have a need to find out more about the condition in order to gain a better understanding of how to deal with it within your own field. Or, of course, you may be a person with autism yourself.

Whatever your reason for picking up this book, I truly hope it will enlighten you in the same way as Anna’s story has enlightened me. Anna, I know, does not want to be put on a pedestal for what she has achieved, but it’s so hard not to place her there, for she is a remarkable woman.

Faced with the challenge of finding appropriate educational provision for her two boys, Anna, and her husband Sean, decided upon a course of action that most people would never have contemplated: founding a specialist school dedicated to the care and education of young people with various forms of autism. It was a mammoth task that, on the face of it, was one of folly – but how they have proved everyone wrong!

There are several good reasons for writing Not Stupid. From a human-interest point of view, it is a remarkable story of a couple’s love and dedication for their children and their determination to provide them with as good a chance of a happy and productive life as other, more fortunate youngsters.

On the other hand, their story highlights the barriers and misunderstandings placed in their path towards that goal by those who were either too ignorant or too inflexible in their ways to appreciate fully the scale of the problems faced by so many in society when it comes to autism.

Not Stupid highlights the depths of despair Anna and Sean endured in their quest to help their boys, and the boys’ torment, which, particularly in their time in nursery and mainstream education, saw them subjected to ridicule and bullying.

That said, this is a story of hope. Anna and Sean have proved that mountains can be moved if you have the determination to focus on your goals, and that living with autism can be made easier when it is more fully and widely understood.

I trust this book will, in some small way, help towards that end.