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'Autism is a lifelong developmental disability that affects the way a person communicates and relates to people around them. People with autism have difficulties with everyday social interaction.' NAS website

The National Autistic Society is a charity very close to my heart, my identical twin boys Dylan and Taj were diagnosed with Autistic Spectrum Disorder when they were around 3 years old. They had already been through so much as they were born prematurely (two months early), so the diagnosis was a double blow for us ( it had already been a tough 3 years ). We didn't know where to start, what is Autism? what would our children be like? would we ever be able to communicate wth them? reach into their world? why can't they understand us? why do their tantrums get huge and unmanageable? would they turn out like the 'Rainman.' Would they ever have relationships, friends say 'I love you?' All these questions went running through our heads and we needed answers.

My husband and I trawled the net for information and tried to find ways that we could amost 'cure' them but the information on treatment that we found was suprisingly disappointing, either you need a whole heap of money or time and being full time working parents we could neither afford the time or the money (raising twins is expensive and time consuming business!). We were lucky to get help and advice from the local council and the boys are now both doing very well in a primary school with a provisioned unit for children with speech delay and ASD. I soon realised that these support channels were not easy for others to tap into...we had been very lucky but despite their improvement we still worry about what tomorrow holds for them.

I went through a dark time when I thought I  had failed them, had my insufficient genetic information caused this? could I have done anything different in my pregnancy? beating myself up like I suppose all mum's do when their children turn out to be less than perfect. 

Luckily my amazingly postive husband and my extended family and friends were a world of support but even they took a while to understand the condition, believeing that they would 'grow out of it' or that it was 'a stage they were going through,' 'boys develop later, don't forget they are premature'and  the unknown created lots of anxiety and in the mean time my husband and I  would find ourselves forever apologising to people for our childrens behaviour, especially since they could be very agressive when people got into their personal space and when having tantrums. Public places were the worst with people starring at us as if we were bad parents and our children were spoilt, one lady in a restaurant once upset me because she asked me to ' shut my child up because she already had a headache from looking after her grandchild.' Autism is a hidden disability which means that it is not obvious that the person has a condition, autistic people do not look any different than any other human being.

ASD is not a condition that has had much research and there are many 'theories' but no concrete information on it's origin besides the fact that it is a genetic disorder and is not caused by environment.

The National Autistic Society is the UK's leading charity for people affected by Autism. Over half a million people in the UK have Autism. Together with their families they make up over two million people whose lives are touched by autism every single day.Despite this autism is still relatively unknown and misunderstood. Which mean that many of these two million people get nothing like the level of help, support and understanding that they need.

The National Autistic Society was my life saver, their website not only answered lots of questions that we were already asking ourselves but I was able to read articles written by adults with autism who were living independant working lives and some were even married with children of their own. I was able to see how other parents felt and were affected and it made me feel like I had a network of support at the click of a mouse. The site raised my hopes and made me realise that my boys can... and I am determined that they WILL... have a future, I will stop at nothing to give them every opportunity and the life skills needed to live in 'our world.'

Despite my determination the amount of support available is not what it should be. Everyone with autism deserves to the opportunity to reach their full potential and the right support at the right time can make the world of difference.

This is why I along with a few supportive friends and other NAS runners are running the Bupa London 10,000 on the 31st of May 2010 to support the NAS charity, the NAS are dependant on donations and provide advice, information, support and specialist services to 100,000 people across the UK each year, not forgetting their Autism Helpline which helps lots of parents like myself.

Please give as much as you can to a cause that will change the future for all people/families affected by Autism and thank you for reading.

Miral Laurie