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Understanding autism
Understanding autism

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1.5 Family resilience

Families with one or more autistic members have often been noted as developing resilience, becoming stronger and more resourceful. This comes from flexibility in accommodating the autistic person’s needs and from good communication with each other. While every family’s journey with autism is different, they have in common learning to appreciate the smallest of achievements and developing greater awareness of, and compassion towards, individual differences.

Life has never been the same since Matthew made his appearance in 2000. Everyday activities that people take for granted, are a challenge in my house …

Despite the pressure put onto us as a family, this has now become a way of life and we know no different. We feel that ignorance lies with other people and until they re-educate themselves into accepting diversity then life for us will remain quite a challenge! Life with Matthew is wonderful and marvellous!

Zöe Wood
A photograph of Matthew Wood.
Figure 1 Zoe Wood's son Matthew.