The comedian has come out to say his twins – a boy and girl age 6 – have autism, and his younger daughter is showing signs though too young to be diagnosed. I struggle with one child, I can’t imagine having three who, as we all know this about autism, will have different traits, each child will be different in their siblings.
Him and his wife are being very vocal about it to raise awareness, appearing on chat shows and magazines. They even hosted a ball to raise funds to Autism UK. I think they are AMAZING!!!
Recently Paddy was interviewed about his life. I recorded it knowing he would talk about his kids, and knowing I needed to be in the right frame of mind to watch it. It took me a week!
It was good for my husband to hear another man talk about his Autistic kids. It really felt like he was telling our life story as he was talking. Points he raised included:
- His wife copes better
- He wants normality
- Jealous or other parents being able to do normal mundane things
- How hard the meltdowns are
It was very emotional to watch. I had such an overwhelmingly strong feeling of wanting to write to him. I googled his agent’s name and emailed her. She said to send the letter to her and she would forward on, which I have done. I don’t expect a reply, but needed him to know how much he has helped us and that he is not alone.
I followed his Twitter feed after the programme aired and the comments he received were so supportive. Someone wrote ‘It gets easier. It’s never easy, but it gets easier’ and I can see that already. This time a year ago we were struggling alot more than we are now.
My favourite quote was – these are the cards we have been dealt, so let’s play! I love this!
Super Autism Mum 