Thriving on the spectrum
How some offices, campuses and even stadiums in Brazil are making an effort to be more autism-friendly.
Brazilian State Legislator Andréa Werner runs a one-of-a-kind office. “Our working hours are flexible, most of the team works from home, we changed the lighting in our offices to be less bright than other offices, and we also create processes to make sure people have the resources they need,” says Werner.
“My team is very diverse in multiple ways. Aside from me, the chief of my legal staff and my chief of communications are both autistic. There are people working with me who have rare conditions, are parents of people with disabilities or have other characteristics that demand some type of accommodation. With this in mind, we have several fronts we act on to ensure people are comfortable,” explains Werner. “Everyone in the team demands different approaches, which is why, in general, we are very flexible.”
A late diagnosis
Originally diagnosed with ADHD, Werner began to research autism after her son was diagnosed and discovered she is on the spectrum as well.
“Several of my friends started pointing out some of my behaviours as things that didn’t really fit that single [ADHD] diagnosis. I always had a very high sensitivity to loud or bright environments, felt absolutely drained after social interactions and had issues interpreting indirect language or ambiguous expressions. I also have a lot of trouble controlling my own facial expressions,” Werner explains.
It is estimated that over 75 million people in the world have some level of autism. The condition might make people on the spectrum present difficulties in interactions and communication, both verbal or non-verbal. They might have restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior, specific interests and hypersensitivity to stimuli. The spectrum is wide, so despite having similar difficulties, people with different levels of autism have different limitations and different needs in different environments, such as school and work.
When Werner got her diagnosis at the age of 47, she discussed with her therapist – who specializes in late diagnosis – how it feels to realize she’s on the autism spectrum as an adult.
“Getting a late diagnosis is about reinterpreting the past – in large part, a healing process of the feelings of inadequacy,” Werner says.
Autism rates increasing
The number of diagnoses of autism in children, teenagers and adults has increased in recent years. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that, globally, 1 in 100 children have autism spectrum disorder. Which is almost twice as many as the WHO had estimated in 2012. While most studies focus on children, adult populations are also seeing an increase in autism diagnoses. There are many reasons for this increase in diagnoses, including changing diagnostic criteria, growing awareness and more adults seeking later-in-life diagnoses.
Arthur (whose name has been changed for the sake of anonymity) got his diagnosis at the age of 36.
“At work, I was feeling tired, especially after interacting with other people,” Arthur says. “I decided to consult a psychologist to try to understand what it was. In the meantime, I saw some material about autism and it felt relatable. So, I talked to a specialist psychologist about it, and mentioned the feeling of exhaustion due to social interactions.”
Although Arthur’s situation occurs frequently, another reason for the increase in diagnoses among adults is that many parents are discovering they are on the spectrum after their children are diagnosed. Formerly, since the diagnosis was made only in more severe cases, people with lighter levels of autism spent their lives experiencing the difficulties that come with being autistic without having the advantage of knowing they are on the spectrum.
Fair access
Having worked as a psychopedagogue in a public university in Brazil for eight years, Camila Costa explains that part of her job is to provide assistance to students with special needs (much like a Student Success Centre staff member would at a Canadian university). Costa wishes there were better systems for training educators about accommodations for people with autism and other diagnoses.
“We still need to know how to deal with the different levels of support, and what to do in certain cases,” Costa says. “I graduated more than ten years ago, but even now I don’t see many graduation programs that offer classes on how to support and assist people with special needs. We go after courses on our own. I look for books, information and people who can help us to have this kind of information on how to assist the students.”
According to Costa, accommodations vary depending on the institution. Some bigger universities even have their own departments for neurodiverse students, with rooms for each type of need, such as special desks to avoid visual stimuli, noise mufflers or even a psychopedagogue to offer one-on-one assistance.
On the campus where Costa works, however, the structure is not as prepared. There is no physical space dedicated to autistic students. If a student needs a different place, the staff can offer their own room for taking tests or assignments, but there is less structure than at larger universities.
When lawyer Natalia Rocha took her Masters in International Law and Global Justice at the University of Sheffield, England, she had an appointment with the university doctor before classes started, where they asked her what accommodations she needed due to her anxiety. Her university had a special department just to take care of people with special needs, however, places like that are still not a reality in many academic environments.
Watching a match
According to psychologist Pedro Scomparin, the demystification of autism is ongoing. Autism researchers are still learning what can be done for comfort and adaptation in different social environments because special accommodations should not be exclusive to work and educational purposes. Scomparin says inclusion should be just as important in leisure environments as it is in work and school contexts.
In 2019, Brazil’s Corinthians soccer team made a campaign asking for people to keep silent during halftime, while fan club members with autism were invited to the pitch to try to score goals. The Corinthians also inaugurated a special room inside the Neo Química Arena stadium for people with autism to watch games.
“A person’s life should not be restricted because of the different accommodations they need in order to do things they enjoy. A football stadium is unlikely to be a comfortable place for someone on the spectrum, but that shouldn’t prevent fans with autism from watching the game in person,” Scomparin says. “Having a space for this kind of situation is a great example of inclusion. It shows how much they care about ways of making someone’s experience as enjoyable as the ones of people who don’t have the same needs. It’s a mindset that should be more common in our daily lives,” he adds.
Finally, Scomparin says psychoeducation for everybody is essential.
“Having informational methods to raise awareness is very important to make places more accessible for everyone, as well as to increase the comfort of people who need accommodation,” he explains.
We are not only at a moment of increased research around certain autistic behaviours (and constant updates of diagnostic guides), but also at a time when this scientific knowledge can be shared widely and quickly on the internet. With the increase in awareness that autism is a wide spectrum, it’s becoming more common for adults to seek diagnoses and for places of work, study and even entertainment to become autism-friendly.
