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Autism/community garden near autistic child

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Expert: - 3/31/2011


Question
Some friends are part of a community garden group which is starting up a new space across the alley from their house. An adjacent landowner opposes the garden saying it would be too disruptive and/or distressing for a child with autism (who is moving with the family to a house next to the proposed area). The people involved with the garden are generally a gentle bunch of women.  We are trying to be sensitive to figure out what would cause upset. Intuitively, it seemed to me that the opposite would be true; that a garden space would have a calming effect. At this time, we don't have any other information about the child, and where he/she fits on the spectrum.  What is your insight into possible objections the family may have?  Thank you for your expertise!

Answer
Hi,

it's hard to answer this question without knowing the child. Everyone on the spectrum is different, and what one might find interesting and calming might distress another.

I personally would maybe be scared of a bunch of strangers working next to my house, maybe even trying to interact with me. I need lots of personal space, and people working next to my own garden alot would feel like a violation of my personal space. (from your description I assume the people working on the community garden won't be of the noisy kind - which might seriously distress a person with autism - it would distress me for sure -maybe that's what they're scared about most). Since many people with autism have difficulties with change, even a change to their surroundings might distress them like the space next to their house being turned in to a garden.
What I would do if I were you is asking the landowner how to get in touch with this family and ask them yourself what they think of your gardening project, and if they think it would be too stressful for their child. Maybe the landowner is just overprotective and the family won't mind at all.

Hope this helps, sorry I can't write well today, I'm really tired
C.

Autism

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*DISCLAIMER*

Please note I am not a healthcare professional or a doctor.
I cannot provide a diagnosis or give any medical advice.
Therefore I cannot answer questions like "is my child autistic ?" other than by telling you to go and see a specialist
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Please be aware that if you are in the US it will usually take at least 24 hours until I can answer your question, as I'm in Europe and don't have access to my email during the day. I also cannot answer questions concerning the US educational or law system (other than by looking up things on google, but that's probably not the expertise you need), as I'm not in the US.
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Please also be aware that I'm a person with autism. My answers may sometimes be very blunt and direct and I may tell you things you won't like to hear. Diplomacy is certainly not among my talents. I'm never being rude on purpose, and I always try not to hurt or offend people, but it has happened before and may happen again. It's NEVER on purpose. I just want to help.
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What I *can* do for you is gather information on any aspect of autism and therapy of autism you're interested in and give you my personal oppinion about it (if you want to hear it) or, if it applies, tell you about my personal experience. I can answer all questions about what life is like for an autistic person.

I can also answer questions asked in German or French (but will have to answer in English to questions asked in French as my French is a bit rusty).

Ich beantworte gerne auch Fragen auf Deutsch.

Vous pouvez poser des questions en Francais, si cela ne vous dérange pas que je responds en anglais.

Experience


As I'm not doing well right now and am not in the shape of answering questions well - I recieved a few low ratings lately - I'll take a break from AllExperts for the next few weeks/until I'm doing better

I am an adult diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome/High Functioning Autism and ADD.

In the past years I have also read a lot about autism and its comorbid conditions and related subjects (as I am experiencing symptoms of most of these or know others who do) , so I have accumulated a lot of layman knowledge in this area (AD(H)D, Tourette's Syndrome, OCD, sleep disorders, allergies, sensory integration dysfunction, learning difficulties, left/right-brain, giftedness, Irlen Syndrome, prism glasses, executive dysfunction (aka. "inertia"), "special" diets).

Education/Credentials
None in the field of autism, apart from being autistic myself !

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