Mind Matters: Christine McGuinness discusses her autism diagnosis and parenting challenges | 5 News

hi christine thanks so much for joining us uh first things first what was it like to get a diagnosis of autism as an adult you know honestly it's it's been a huge relief it's really helped me understand why i am the way i am why i've struggled through my whole life um you know it kind of makes sense as to why i've got three autistic children it's been a huge positive for me when you say how you struggled what was it like then growing up was it was it a feeling as though you somehow didn't fit was an outsider what were you doing yeah i mean i've i've never felt like i've fitted in anywhere and i've tried and i've tried to be like with people which is when i was done that is masculine which is part of being autistic um right through school i really struggled and never really had many friends and i still don't have many friends now and i try and i just it's something i struggle with socially you know i'm making conversations i struggle with change i struggle with food sensory shoes clothes labels being in busy places um it's everything it i ticked a lot of boxes you know quite a few red flags there i'm surprised it wasn't picked up on a lot earlier well i wonder one of the reasons perhaps why it wasn't picked on earlier and this is something i see in in my work with people with autism is that girls especially in women can mask their symptoms so in other words they're camouflaging who they are in order to fit in yeah absolutely and i do it all the time and masking isn't something that you can switch off even though i know i'm doing it sometimes it's not a choice it's become a way of life it's almost like a survival method it's just something you do without even thinking um i've done it in work and different tv shows i've tried to just be like everyone else to try and fit in to try and be light and it's it's hard to keep up you can't do it because it's not really the real you i am my most comfortable self when i'm on my own and i often think even the husband wouldn't recognize me if he saw me when i'm on my own and for somebody who likes their own company having a diagnosis of autism is one thing but it was put out there to the rest of the world everybody was with you almost when you got your diagnosis what was that like it's been amazing mostly i was worried about thinking is this going to affect my work and i thought oh god are people gonna treat me differently for me just having the whole nation with me has been a huge positive i've been inundated with messages from people mostly women but you know there are men too that have realized that they could be autistic and they're going to go and seek help now i think it's good to show that you know it's it's not this awful you know it's not an illness it's not a big negative thing you know of course it's difficult at times but you know there's lots of positives with it too if we all focus on people's qualities rather than the difficult years i think there will be a much better place absolutely i mean everybody if if they if they have autism they have it very differently and and of course they can present very differently but it must be so reassuring to see your family and all the joy and happiness that you have with three autistic children and being autistic yourself you know people struggle you know in walks of life regardless of what abilities and disabilities they've got and with autism you can read every single book on the planet you can try and educate yourself as much as possible and it will help but ultimately you've got to get to know the person i've got three autistic children i'm autistic myself and we all are individual people the thing with autism as we know it's a huge big massive spectrum it affects everyone differently you know so what works for one of my children won't necessarily wait for the other so it's great to educate yourself read up about it understand it but you've got to get to know the actual person themselves because autism is not like a one size fits all can i ask when you receive the diagnosis has it subsequently changed the way you see yourself your relationship with yourself and also your relationship with other people how's that shifted it's really helped so not long after i got my diagnosis i started filming um a tv show about cancer and it was the first time i had to spend time with people that i didn't know and we were expected to you know interact all day make conversation um eat together all of these things that i really struggled with but i wanted to do it and understanding that i was struggling because i'm autistic i was able to just speak to them and say listen every now and again i'm just gonna have a little bit of time out and i'd during lunchtime i would just go and eat on my own and it was just my way of being able to calm down switch off just have a little bit of quiet time and then i could go back and carry on filming if i hadn't had my diagnosis before that i would have been panicking thinking i'm going to isolate myself i'm going to look really on social i'm going to have to sit and eat with everyone and you know it's it's been a really big positive being able to say it's going to help me if i can just do this and you know like you would with anyone with any kind of disability if somebody was in a wheelchair you were built around so i think if you're autistic and you're in a job and there's something you're struggling with we should be able to say quite openly i need a little bit of time out now and again it's going to help me to be able to carry on with the rest of the day so it's been really really helpful as you say autism is a huge spectrum and and people live with it very differently but what would your advice be to someone who's watching who's living with autism or living with somebody with autism how can how can they help or help themselves patience is something that i want to have with children um you've got patience i think you know a lot of autistic people do move at a different speed and for me i like to do things in my own time i do need a lot of time um just trying to understand and care and include them you know inclusion is is something that we're crying out for to be accepted and you know for my children especially they're all young they're at school and i say to the other parents you know please still invite them to birthday parties they might not come that you know the wherever you do the birthday party for a child might be too busy it might be too loud it can trigger meltdowns so we might not call but please still include them you know um and i think that needs to carry on right right through to adelaide i think you're so right is it i think you're so right it's about being transparent with people isn't it and saying listen this is helpful this is not so helpful and if if i'm going to do this then can we make sure that and just putting a structure in place so that you're comfortable with what's going to happen you know what's going to happen and you know how to get out if it's starting to feel uncomfortable well yeah when i was at school obviously autism wasn't really spoken about much back then i don't think i'd even heard of it but i missed every single meal time so i didn't eat when i was at school for years and years and i i actually had new disorder um i didn't understand then what was going on but all my reasons for not eating at school was was autistic symptoms i didn't like the busy canteen i didn't like the food that was there and i had the whole anxiety of where to sit because i didn't our friends didn't know who to go with all of these things built up which ended up with me having an eating disorder when my children started school because of that experience i was able to sit with their headmaster and say then they're not going to eat in the canteen not going to eat with everybody else please can you reassure me that my children are able to eat somewhere quietly on their own i will bring food in if they won't eat the food that's here and thank god we're in a really really understanding school and they were like that's absolutely fine you know we want the children to eat and just knowing that because of my experience has made sure that my children now eat every day at school and now it's a couple of years but now they will sit with all the children and they will eat together it's not too busy and it's not too loud they can do it i think that was some help and support that i really liked and missed and it could have been avoided you know if it was understood back then so just knowing how you can help yourself how you can help your children i think it's really important and to be able to say it out loud christine mcginnis thanks so much for being with us and thanks for raising awareness as well of autism thank you thank you so much for having me

Channel: 5 News

Views: 15,017

Keywords: Channel 5 News, 5 News, Channel 5, News, Latest News, Breaking News, News Today, Live News, UK News, World News, Current Affairs, ITN, Channel 4 News, ITV News, Christine McGuinness, Autism, Parenting, Neurodivergent, #MindMatters, Sian Williams

Id: LGDKvXqK2T0

Length: 9min 7sec (547 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 05 2022