Catherine McKinnell, MP for Newcastle North, has joined nearly 100 of her colleagues in adding her support to the National Autistic Society’s recently-launched Too Much Information campaign.

Attending an event held in Parliament this week, Catherine heard more about the campaign which aims to improve public understanding of autism, following a new report which reveals how poor public understanding of autism is pushing autistic people, and their families, into isolation.

According to a survey of over 7,000 autistic people, their families and friends, and professionals undertaken for this report (‘Too Much Information: why the public needs to understand autism better’):

• 87% of families say people stare and 74% say people ‘tut’ or make disapproving noises about behaviour associated with their child’s autism;
• 84% of autistic people say people judge them as strange;
• 79% of autistic people and 70% of family members feel socially isolated; and
• 50% of both autistic people and family members sometimes or often don’t go out because they’re worried about how people will react to their autism

In 2015, a YouGov poll found that over 99.5% of the people in the UK had heard of autism. However, just 16% of autistic people and their families said that the public had a meaningful understanding of autism. This means that while lots of people have heard of the word autism, very few actually understand what it means to be autistic.

More than 1 in 100 people are on the autism spectrum. This means that someone sees, hears and feels the world in a different, often more intense, way to other people. Autistic people often find social situations difficult and struggle to filter out the sounds, smells, sights and information they experience, which means they feel overwhelmed by ‘too much information’ when out in public.

As part of the Too Much Information campaign, the National Autistic Society has also released a short film, shot from the point of view of a child on the autism spectrum experiencing ‘too much information’ as he walks through a shopping centre. It shows how painful and overwhelming it is for the boy – and how much more difficult it is when people make nasty remarks or throw judgmental glares at him and his mother. The film concludes with the words: ‘I’m not naughty: I’m autistic’.

Catherine met with the Marshall family, whose 10-year old autistic son Alex plays the little boy in the campaign film, at this week’s event in Parliament.

Catherine said:

‘The Too Much Information campaign is a powerful reminder of why we must all work harder to improve our understanding of autism.

‘It’s desperately sad how isolating public misunderstanding of autism can be, and no person – or family – should ever feel they can’t even leave their home because of this.’

Alex’s mum and dad, Ben and Kathryn Marshall, said:

‘When Alex was filming, we were watching him from the balcony and there was a woman who gave this look, a little glance. Everybody watching with us said, ‘That’s the look!’ We all knew it. It was that split second of contempt which says, ‘why can’t you control your child?’

‘That’s why we’re so thrilled to be involved in the Too Much Information campaign and get the chance to help people realise how big a difference they can make to families like ours, by simply showing a little understanding rather than throwing us a judgemental look.’