Personalisation in Health and Social Care Essay

Autism affects around 1 in 100 people, it affects how they communicate and how they see the world around them. The condition affects people in different ways some may live a fairly independent life, others may have accompany learning disabilities and need more specialist care. Autism is a lifelong developmental disability and affects how they see the world around them. People with Autism have said that the world around them can feel like a mass of people, places and events, which they struggle to make sense of. They also find it hard relating to people, understanding them and taking part in everyday family life and social events. People with Autism have difficulties with the following; social communication, social interaction and social imagination, these are known as the ‘triad of impairments’. The difficulties these cause in people’s lives include finding it difficult to form friendships, understanding and interoperating people’s feelings and actions, understanding danger, coping with changes and new or unfamiliar situations. The main problems with communication that people with autism have, are taking what people say literally, understanding jokes and sarcasm and people’s body language and facial expressions, it is important to speak in a clear and consistent way to enable people with Autism time to process what has been said. The characteristics of people with Autism may vary, but the main ones consist of love of routine, if their routines are changed or disrupted it can cause upset and agitation although if they are given enough time and explanation it may be more comfortable for them. Sensory sensitivity, this can occur in one or more of the senses, it can be hypersensitivity or hypo-sensitivity. Special interests, this can be intense interests from an early age and can be anything from art, music, maths or computers. Learning disability, this can affect all areas of a person’s life which involves learning for example; how people learn at school to learning daily living skills. An early diagnosis by a health professional will make a difference because with the right help and support a person with Autism will make good progress. ASPERGER SYNDROME Asperger syndrome is a form of Autism and has all of the characteristics and difficulties as Autism although is not accompanied with a learning disability, but may have specific learning difficulties. These may include dyslexia, dyspraxia, ADHD or epilepsy. People with Asperger syndrome have a big love of routine, they may have rules and ritiuals which they must live by to make sense of their world. Children may line things up, collect and organise things and can be very repetitive. Their special interests can be very intense and sometimes obsessive, they have a big focus on learning and with the correct help and support can do well with studying in their chosen interest. Unlike Autism, Asperger syndrome is harder to diagnose due to the wide variety of symptoms and may not be recognised until adulthood. Some people find the diagnoses unhelpful as it is an unwanted label although for others it is helpful to be able to seek help and support to manage needs and behaviours. Asberger synd rome is quite often known as the ‘hidden disability and there is no cure.