As a practitioner working in the social care field for over 20 years I have seen and heard many...
When Chris first went to live with his new parents, a file was created to list his achievements. The front of this file was adorned with photographs of Chris in positive situations as he grew into a teenager then adulthood.
The first written statement in the file read ‘Autism is like having heavy shoes on, but you can climb mountains in heavy shoes’ – Fleisher 1994
Into adulthood, Chris was given many opportunities which included climbing but his reply was ‘it looks too dangerous to me’. Often at school he would record other children’s achievements by photographing them but always made sure his feet stayed firmly on the ground. He would be praised for his participation and that was that.
Upon leaving school, Chris had big changes in his life, so the family started looking for day service opportunities that would meet his needs. Although initially hard, they finally found The Adventure Service Ltd where Chris could venture into the great outdoors - walking, bike riding, canoeing and… climbing!
Chris still chose to watch others climb and everyone understood his reasons. Time went by when, after one Friday session, he showed his parents the days’ achievements – Chris had climbed his first mountain!!!! This turned out to be one of many - making his parent, and The Adventure Service staff, immensely proud!
