A dad has opened up challenges his family faced during a day trip to Edinburgh with his young autistic son.
Paul Anderson, 42, paid a visit to the capital as part of a Scottish trip on January 1 with his wife and seven-year-old son William.
William has autism and is non-verbal, so he is usually carried by his parents or led with a safety harness. Speaking to Edinburgh Live, his dad aims to spread awareness on coping with being a parent to an autistic child.
He says he is “passionate” about how they cope and tries to embrace how William is rather than try change him.
While they were in Edinburgh, the family went to the museum, had a bite to eat and headed to the Royal Mile – where things took a turn.
Paul said: “Although William is physically able, he won’t comply with the walking direction we want him to go. The museum actually had disabled parking outside and since we had a blue badge, it was really helpful.
“He really likes museums and enjoys the perspectives and the atmosphere. But when we went to get lunch, it became really tricky because his sense of time is distorted. With him knowing we were getting lunch, he became really anxious and wanted the food immediately.
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“It was a tense situation and he got really upset. When we got in and had something to eat, he was eventually happy. With him having a short attention span, as soon as he’s finished eating he wants to move on so quickly.”
The family moved onto the Royal Mile and Paul believes his son became over stimulated there due to the hustle of the city and the colder temperatures.
He added: “At the moment, I carry him around and he loves to go on my shoulders but it was quite a strain on me, especially going up the hill.
“He started to get really excited, became very vocal and despite him not being able to speak, he makes a lot of sounds.
“When we got to the castle, he wasn’t interested in being there and started to have a meltdown and sometimes we aren’t sure why and there wasn’t a lot we could do.
“He was hitting me and even tried to hit people we passed. We were feeling defeated at that stage and we were about to jump in the car to go home but we decided to give the museum another go and he had calmed down at that point.”
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The 42-year-old said since their experience in Edinburgh they have learned new lessons and he will continue to share his experiences with others on various social media platforms.
He runs a page called “Theautismadventure” where he shares various moments he’s had with William over the past few years. Paul used to work as a Geology lecturer before he became a full time carer for his son and he began to notice various points during that time.
He added: “A few years ago I had to leave work to care for William and it left me with a lot of afternoons after school when it was just me and him and I was looking for creative things to do, but I was also learning a lot from it and the things that were useful for him and I thought it would be nice to share that with others.
“These days I work as a tutor for autistic students. I do it online and it all started 18 months go, that’s how I make most of my money these days.
“I feel very passionate about how we can all cope and I would always rather embrace who William is rather than try to fix him, which is never going to happen and it will just make him unhappy.
You can find out more about William and Paul’s journey here.