Team Lucas

Day 8 - Sunshine On A Rainy Day The Finish Line Is Near

The final day for Walking For Autism 2024 is here. Wow, it seems like I was only starting it yesterday. As always, it has been a journey both emotionally and physically.

Today is International Autism Awareness Day, and between the 2nd to 8th of April, there is Awareness Week and April Awareness Month. All fine and well, but Autism 24/7 lifetime awareness is needed.

On my Walk today, I saw some street art on the Green switching boxes used for Phone circuits, traffic light controllers, etc. It quotes the title of a song, very close to my heart, by Pink Floyd's "WYWH" title in the pictures.

My older brother wanted it played at his funeral when he sadly lost his battle with cancer back in March 2021. But it also reminds me of my mum, or Lucas called her Granny Soft Ears because when he was younger, he loved to suck his thumb and feel her soft ears as a comfort. He always said she had the softest ears. She sadly passed on Christmas Day 2021. Lucas misses her a lot, but we are glad he had so many good years with her.

So today was a day of Chinese takeaway and Maine Brown Lemonade, a Northern Ireland thing. Maine Lemonade is a family-run business, and Lucas's Granny Soft Ears always had Brown and American Cola on standby as he was growing up.

So thank you, everyone, for the love and support regarding the Walk this year. Remember to raise awareness wherever and whenever you can.

Day 7 - The Penultimate Walk Day

So, it is hard to believe today was the penultimate Walk for Autism Day. It was also Easter Monday, a family day for a road trip, so we changed scenery and headed down the coast for the walk today.

We stopped off for a Burger King Treat at Bangor Bloomfield Centre, somewhere we always went when the kids were young, as a treat and day out with a seaside walk in a town called Donaghadee, now made famous on the BBC TV show Hope Street as it the filming location.

We walked up to the Lighthouse on the end of the pier, then back around to Mauds for a Lucas’s Fav ice-cream Blue Surf while Mum and Dad opted for Pooh Bear Honeycomb, bringing back warm sunny summer day memories for us all.

We explained the connections and history of the town to Lucas. It was a fun family day out with adventure and plenty of steps done, given the rain came on at the end.

Day 6 - Never Give Up

 Today was Easter Sunday, so a little more chilled out walking. Wise, I had been feeling a little under the weather, too, like cold/flu symptoms with mild muscle strain.

But like the Cherry Blossom that grows just around my estate, it has been broken in storms and other events, yet every year, it continues to blossom and grow.

So, against all the odds, it never gives up when failure and brokenness occur. It finds new ways to survive and grow; the same should be said for us.

Day 5 - Think Outside The Box

Today, I saw one of the most sunny days of the walk and started my day of thinking outside the box around Easter. I like to do a family BBQ as I know Lucas loves the food, and I tell funny stories.

One topic of conversation that came up was dad coming out of gaming retirement to maybe get setup on a Minecraft server and other games.

When I compare my childhood gaming memories on ZX Spectrum +2, I listen with serious low-level graphics 8-bits. In contrast, listening to  Iron Maiden or AC/DC compared to the virtual reality of gaming today is blowing, and some of the music I love is used as their soundtracks. Yet, it gives Lucas and many others a safe place and voice via the chat function on consoles and PCs.

On my walk today, I noted more about the rich creative history of East Belfast and the proud fact we have The Strand Cinema, the last independent with its impressive Art Deco design.

I know Lucas has attended many family movies here, and they run animation workshops that Lucas attended via his school, which he loved.

Lucas has a great imagination, and voice impersonation is impressive. We passed the James Ellis Bridge today. James was a famous actor and much loved East Belfast Son.

So, thinking outside the box, maybe Lucas will be an Actor, a Gamer, or a Chef as he likes cooking. The list is endless, but about encouraging him to follow his dreams.

Day 4 - Half way there living on a prayer

So today, the Good Friday of the Easter holidays is the halfway point of the Walk of Autism and is the first day of my days off work, so there will be slightly more scenic walks and photo taking.

Easter has so many meanings for people, from faith to easter bunnies, with my favourite being that it marks Springtime in flow, which is a renewed life cycle for trees, flowers, and animals.

Lucas's granny Norah took him on a nature walk around one of the local ponds today after his favourite McDonald's treat, a nice distraction from the daily buzz of life.

After so many days of heavy rain, the sun was a welcome friend on the walk today, taking in part of the Comber Greenway, a walkway/Cycle Lane system that links areas of Belfast to the town of Comber Co Down.

On the walk, I took pictures of places of interest, and the one I added today exceptionally fitting is the Stone Table that features in C.S. Lewis's The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, given it Good Friday.

So happy Easter and Halfway Point to all my fellow walkers. Be blessed, and keep your faith.

Day 3 - Its Times Like These

So here we are, Day 3 of the walk for Autism today at work. As I took my steps, many of my colleagues, whom I call friends, encouraged me. A big shout-out to Claire Killen in college, who encouraged me to create a poster she can put around the library to help raise awareness.

Also, the wonderful Natalie Thompson, as ever my sporting mentor and encourager every year, is cheering me on and telling me I got this.

Over the last few weeks, I think the undiagnosed Autism traits boiled to the surface a few times. The stress of life and work sometimes put me in a mini meltdown scenario. It is unique what can trigger me as I usually feel very level-headed.

But as a big Foo Fighters fan and given it two years ago on the 25^th of March 2022, Taylor Hawkins, the drummer of the Foo's, passed away. It led to the most fantastic tribute concert, giving us the most emotional version of Times Like These. What a tune.

So with this, I finish in the words of Dave Grohl himself:

But I, I'm a little divided. Do I stay or run away and leave it all behind?

It's times like these you learn to live again

It's times like these you give and give again

It's times like these you learn to love again

It's times like these, time and time again

Day 2 - The Impossible is Possible

Being a parent is a big undertaking for anyone. There is no manual or how-to guide. Truthfully speaking well, being a parent to a child or children with Autism is that and so much more. If you are raising a child, you learn from experiences and listen to guidance, hints, and tips from health visitors or family.

You look for all the milestones when your baby takes their first steps and begins to talk about all the normal development stages, the joys and tears of happiness, but what if these moments never come or are delayed? Do alarm bells start ringing during this time? The diagnostic process and journey of testing for Autism start as health visitors or doctors suggest it is a possibility.

With Lucas, he was overdue to be born by two weeks. There was a lot of worry on the doctor's side that there would be developmental issues, such as his growth being stunted. He is turning 13 this year. He was about 5ft 9in tall already and not slowing down. I was 6 feet by age ten and finished 6 feet 3in final height, so he will most likely surpass me, which is one impossible that is possible.

When we got the Autism statement for Lucas, they said never expect him to show any empathy towards others and maybe have lots of friends expressions of happiness or showing love, mostly like would be rare if at all.

Well, once again, the one impossible is possible. Lucas, from primary school to high school, has shown tremendous amounts of empathy towards friends and family alike. He is the centre of his little social circle of friends and settled well in both school environments. The laughter and happiness he shows at jokes and chats during gaming times with friends on Xbox or PC are amazing to hear and watch. As for his expression of love as parents, my wife and I have experienced hugs and verbal expressions of love that are rare but treasured so profoundly that the impossible is possible. I never stop believing!!!

Day 1 - What does Autism mean to me?

Every time I hear the phrase diagnosed with Autism for either a child or adult, it drives me nuts. I can’t stand it. The term diagnosed is used to describe it as if it were a disease, which it is not. It simply means running a slightly different operating system when using an IT term. Please review the article below. I think it helps break it down very well:

https://autismunderstood.co.uk/autistic-differences/logical-processing/

I genuinely believe although I have never been reviewed to see if I am on the Autistic Spectrum on the outside, to all who know me, I am very Windows OS like everyone else. Yet, if you read the article, I know deep in my core operating system, Kernel, that I am running Linux.

I always had this gut feeling that somehow I was different, but I was never sure how to describe it to my parents. My mum noted I was not too fond of loud noises or people. I had a few teachers like that who categorised me as slow and needed extra remedial reading classes. Yet, I got top scores on both tests when I was given the class test to see if I still needed to attend these classes back in my primary 6/7 years. Also, Mum noted that my thinking and use of the particular language or phases were more like those of my older sibling, one who, in later life, has the title of Professor in Psychology, so you get my drift.

I was always told I would never amount to anything due to my lack of interest and understanding in school by teachers. Thankfully, Lucas attended a very understanding primary and now secondary school, which genuinely helped him try to understand who he is and work with him to build him into the amazing young man I see before me each day. Add into the mix all the love and core values my late parents raised me with to help me work with Lucas in helping him grow and explore life.

I read an article lately that states mostly likely one, possibly both, of the parents of a child with Autism are on the spectrum somewhere. I know this is something, and I would like to review it further and understand it better for my wife and myself. There I go again, Linux deep thinking and processing side of me kicking in!!!

Thanks for sponsoring me and reading my thoughts and feelings on this Walk for Autism and my journey in this life with Lucas the Gamer Dude.

I'm walking for Lucas my son the Awesome Gamer and Star Wars Fan just like his dad...

I have been stepping up and stepping out on the Walking for Autism to show how much I care about autism. Over the last 3 years, the support and backing I have received have been amazing.

Once again, I will be challenging myself to walk 10,000 steps every day for 8 days while raising much-needed funds to support autistic people in the UK and Ireland. To help bring funding and resources to this charity that is so close to my heart. Following last year’s success and steady come back as still recovering from a long Covid so once again as the time grew close to sign up, I sat, and thought can I do this did some warm-up walks including walking back from the Simple Minds gig in Belfast SSE Arena at the Titanic Quarter to our house with my walking buddy and biggest encourager my wife Claire it was about 12,000 steps tough going but feel good.

As part of my role in the Belfast Metropolitan College in IT Department, I provide services and skill sets that help support some of the amazing courses and support teams/programmes that come alongside the students with Neurodiverse needs to help them feel a part of our wide college family and prepare them for life and work in a safe caring environment. Also, my daughter Lori, who currently studies Health and & Social Care Level 3 at Millfield, has a placement with one of the teams, so the family fully backs and supports the need to raise awareness and funds. The Walk For Autism fits nicely in with the ethos of the college and my own passion for helping others find their full potential.

But also, this year I want give a shout out to Park School where Lucas started to attend as of September 2023, they have amazing staff and support teams working to provide a safe and positive environment for all the kids attending the school.

https://www.parkschoolbelfast.co.uk/

You can help make my steps count and show your support by donating today! Every donation, no matter how big or small, pushes me closer to the goal I have set.

Thank you for helping me to spread autism acceptance and understanding.

Walk for Autism Start Date: 26/03/2024 to 02/04/2024.

https://fundraise.autisminitiatives.org/fundraisers/GarethJohnston-LucasGamerDude/walk-for-autism