Mum desperate to end tuts and stares her family get in public
ONE Grimsby mum is on a personal drive to raise awareness for autism after being faced with tuts and stares when trying to look after her children in public.
Corinne Bryan, 26, moved to Grimsby four years ago and lives with her fiancee Luke Finch, 36, and their three children; Caleb who is three, Roman who is two and six-month-old Hugo in the West Marsh area. Corinne recognised the possible signs of autism in Caleb from a young age and he was diagnosed at just over two-years-old, the family documented the process on social media.
Their blog and Instagram - thefinchfamilylife - has attracted other parents to come forward and connect over their own experiences of raising autistic children and the challenges families can face. Now Corinne wants the wider public to think more carefully of how they treat families in public if their young children might look to the outside world like they are ‘misbehaving’. Corinne said: “We get a lot of it when we are out and about and Caleb is having a meltdown, they can be caused by any slight change or anything he wasn’t expecting and we know how to deal with it. “We get people staring and I don’t mind that so much but it is when people are tutting or turning and muttering to each other that I start to feel really defensive. “I understand the staring because we all do it, it is unavoidable when he might be in distress but sometimes I feel like there is judgement and a lack of understanding about why it might be happening. “There are other things too. Luke was recently at one of the big shops in the area and the checkout lady was trying to talk to o Caleb telling him he had a nice coat on. “Caleb just acted like nothing had d been said because he couldn’t t engage like that with her r socially and straight away y she said ‘What is wrong, he’s s ignoring me? That’s a bit t rude.’
“I just feel like there is so o much more room for r understanding about t autism and why children on n the spectrum behave in cer- tain ways, maybe people might t react with a bit more compassion n if they knew a bit more.” Corinne recognised the signs that Caleb b might be autistic from a young age after r growing up with two autistic siblings. She said it was clear early on when he wouldn’t respond to his name and often exhibited repetitive motions. Corrine said: “We had him assessed early on because I felt certain that I had already spotted the signs. He was only two years and four months old when we got the diagnosis. “We feel lucky in a way because I know
from talking to other parents that the average waiting time for that sort of diagnosis is something like three years in this area.
“For a lot of people it is long traumatic years of battling to get that diagnosis so they can access further help but we feel lucky to have had some great help from services like the Children’s Development Centre already.”
Corinne had already started her social media campaign before Caleb’s diagnosis but after she began posting on Instagram and in her blog about their journey to that point she found herself inundated with messages from other parents going through similar processes.
She said: “When you’re going through this and realising that your child might have autism it can be a very lonely experience. “It feels a bit like it is you against the world as you’re battling to get the recognition but in reality there are lots of people out there g going through something similar.
“It has been nice to build all these connect tions with people, there are some locally too, and we all share our experiences and advice and it has been a massive support to all of u us.”
Corinne is now using her platform to raise more awareness for children with autism and to continue to support other families who are facing similar issues.
To follow the latest updates from the family or to find out what they’ve been up to you can find their Instagram page here
To read more about their journey you can find the blog at https://thefinchfamilylife. wordpress.com/
Sometimes I feel like there is judgement and a lack of understanding about why it might be happening Corinne Bryan