Thursday - Article

This is a biggy today! I thought that I'd publish my short story about Bodie Best:-

Bodie Best

Bodie Best is a 19-year-old non-binary person with a variety of complex psychiatric needs including autism. Autism is a disability caused by differences in the brain. People with autism often have problems with social communication and interaction and can be restricted or show repetitive behaviors or interests. Bodie explains how autism affects him: “It affects me socially. I struggle with communication and am a little socially awkward. I get a lot of social anxiety and it affects my communication, so I can struggle to talk sometimes and I’m not very good at texting and things.” 

One of these ‘differences’ is immediately noticeable in the way Bodie writes. He writes at what seems a hurrying speed as if he’s writing down his thoughts before he loses his train of thought. Subsequently, his writing is devoid of correct capitalisation and proper punctuation. Despite this, he writes in detail. For example, he recently wrote: ‘I’m autistic, i was diagnosed age 14, my autism means I am sensitive to sensory stimuli, I struggle socially, I’m hyper empathic, i have executive function difficulties, I don’t understand sarcasm well. But now, instead of crying when I get sarcasm wrong, I now laugh, and instead of having panic attacks when I don’t understand something socially I *try* and laugh it off.’ 

People with autism usually have a hard time understanding sarcasm and may take sarcastic speech literally. This makes it challenging for them to understand when people are joking and teasing. Bodie says: “I can’t always talk and struggle with nonverbal communication and communication in general.”  

Bodie’s ‘difficulties’ aren’t just limited to writing. He says: “I struggle making eye contact, I struggle with transitions. I struggle to read peoples facial expressions and body language. I need and crave certain sensory input such as deep pressure.” For some autistic people, such as Bodie, ‘deep pressure’ can be calming. It can help them balance their perceptions. This is the sense that helps someone work out where they are in space. Bodie, receives his ‘deep pressure’ normally from one, or another, or both of his ‘assistance’ dogs, ‘Curly’ and ‘Rex’. 

Both dogs have helped diminish ‘sensory overload’ episodes by doing tasks such as ‘deep pressure therapy’ among other things.  “Both Curly and Rex lie on my stomach. They apply some body weight on you,” says Bodie. “It’s a bit like a pressure blanket. It’s quite calming.” 

According to the National Autistic Society (NAS) people with autism often struggle with gender identity. They say: ‘Some people identify as the sex they were assigned with at birth, others don’t.’ They go on to describe how some people identify as neither female nor male. Bodie prefers to identify by the pronouns ‘he’ or ‘they’. 

Bodie writes of other difficulties: ‘The problem is the world are not accepting and meeting our needs. It’s hard to live in a world where you don’t fit the mould. I used to feel like an alien but then I met my wonderful girlfriend, Jac, and other special people who helped show me I’m loved’. 

On weekdays, during term-time, Bodie, accompanied by Rex, attends Boveridge College located near the village of Cranborne in Dorset. This is a specialist further education college providing day and residential support for young people with Autism spectrum conditions or additional social, emotional and mental health needs. ‘We prepare our students for adult life,’ reads their website which goes on to say that they work towards their goal; ‘through person-centred academic and vocational study programmes leading to independent living with employment or further study.’ Boveridge college means a lot to Bodie, ‘I started at this special needs college which I love, and the staff and students help me feel included and cared for.’ 

He goes on:’ For years I felt like I was inside a bubble and watching the world around me through the soapy exterior is blurred and I didn’t understand. I still feel like this often, but that bubble is starting to burst in some places and with some people because I feel able to be myself. This is wonderful.’ he says, ‘I’m getting to a point where I’m learning to unmask. I hid myself and lived as the wrong person for so long it severely damaged my mental health, but unmasking has saved me. It’s still a struggle but much better and easier and I’m happy being myself in the right place. I recently moved into supported living where I’m doing well, and my college is helping me, and I feel happy there. These are the main places I feel comfortable and happy being myself.  

He tells of other difficulties: “I have sensory issues. I’m susceptible to light and sounds. I have blue-tinted lenses in my glasses which help with bright lights. I always wear headphones and I usually have music playing through my headphones but if people are talking to me or I must hear someone, my headphones play a noise cancellation noise such as white noise, which helps dampen sound. 

Last autumn 2023, Bodie met me online. I was researching material for an article on ‘assistance’ dogs. Bodie, who has two assistance dogs ‘Curly’ and ‘Rex’ saw my appeal for information on a Facebook page and got in touch. I wrote articles about Bodie and his dogs for the magazines ‘Able’ and ‘Dogs Today’. Since then, we’ve kept in touch and I’ve found Bodie’s life story fascinating and slowly, we have got to know each other online.  

A few months later, in the New Year, I embarked on a 12-week online course with the ‘National Centre for Writing’. I enrolled in ‘Creative Writing Non-fiction’ which I found both challenging and fascinating. At one point, I submitted part of my articles as an exercise about “openings”. The tutor, the author Edward Parnell, commented on it and suggested that it would be a good opening for a book about Bodie, which set me thinking. I suggested the idea to Bodie. His first response was: ’I’m in 100%!’  

Hitherto, I’d not considered writing a book. But this interested me, so I began by starting to research it. On February 12th I put pen to paper and began making some notes.  

And that’s where we’re up to. Bodie has kept a diary or journal in the past, making notes about his life and experiences and is sorting through them. I am researching aspects such as autism and other mental health conditions that affect Bodie. 

© Richard Hill MMXXIV