Beautiful, sensitive documentary should be seen by all education staff and students

‘Inside our Autistic minds’ is a documentary series of two episodes hosted by Chris Packham. The first episode aired on 14th February on BBC One and highlights two very different autistic people and gives them the opportunity to show the world, and their loved ones, how they feel on the inside. It is a privilege to hear their lived experience and how their interactions with the world can cause immense anxiety and sensory overwhelm. It highlights how communication can be a challenge at times of high anxiety and how this can seem to come out of nowhere to those who are not privy to how their mind is working. It showed the use of assistive technology in providing Murray with his voice and letting his intelligence and understanding of how he perceives the world. His description of being ‘alone and deeply troubled’ prior to being able to communicate through typing illustrates the importance of not viewing non-speaking as non-thinking. It provided a good reminder that while speech is the main way of the world to communicate, there are such a variety of ways of communicating that being more flexible in our ways would benefit everyone.

At Limpsfield Grange, the only state school for autistic girls, there was a discussion about the under-diagnosis of women and girls and the mental health impact that masking has on them as a group. The programme stated that ’intelligent autistic women are eight times more likely to commit suicide than non-autistic women’, a staggering and heart-breaking fact. At Freedom Active, connection was sought with all the young people who attended.

The short films the autistic people create will soften the hardest of hearts and give an insight into the challenges living in this fast-paced, sensory overloaded, speech-driven world is for our autistic young people. Their bravery in coming forward and exposing their lives to scrutiny to increase acceptance, understanding and awareness is humbling to see. This is a much watch for everyone. Available on BBC iPlayer.