Inspirational author launches book to coincide with Sandwell campaign to help autism
A Sandwell author with autism has released his first book to coincide with a campaign to help businesses become more autism friendly.
Richard Johnson’s book From Anxiety to Clarity: How my Asperger’s diagnosis helped me find myself compliments the launch the One Small Change campaign.
As a child, Richard’s undiagnosed autism contributed to his anxiety and his difficulties with accessing the right support at school. In his book, Richard explains how his diagnosis in early adulthood helped him to understand his own needs and to find the right tools to flourish in a career in Sandwell Libraries.
Richard launched his book at Lightwoods House with the Lord Mayor of Sandwell Cllr Richard Jones, Leader of the Council Cllr Kerrie Carmichael and Cllr Suzanne Hartwell, Cabinet Member for Adults, Social Care and Health at Lightwoods House, Bearwood.
At his launch, Richard explained the campaign would ask businesses, community spaces and public services to make one small change for the better by hosting a weekly quiet hour or a community centre accessing autism awareness training for their volunteers, local organisations will choose one small thing that they can commit to to show autistic customers and their families that they are welcome and valued.
Richard said: "It took me a long time to get to this point in my life. It was not a particularly easy journey. I have had to overcome many obstacles along the way. However, I don’t want to be pitied or patronised. I want to be respected as a person first and I want people to see the potential that my autism brings.
"Autism has always been a gift to me. A lot of the skills and abilities I have I thank my autism for. There is no one size fits all with autism, you need to remember that we’re all different. Autistic people are human beings just like anyone else."
He added: "Like everyone we go on a journey and certain things we struggle with at different stages in our life. This is no different for anyone."
Leader of Sandwell Council Councillor Kerrie Carmichael said: "Richard's story is so inspiring, it was a real pleasure to be involved with his book launch."
