I am honoured to have been offered the opportunity to run the Virgin Money London Marathon 2020 for Autism East Midlands again. I am not sure if I am crazy, excited, terrified, happy....probably a mixture of all of these emotions in one but as this charity is so very close to my heart how on earth can I refuse! :)

To all the amazing people who supported me last year, thank you so much. As you can imagine our story as a family is similar to last year although Harrison does always have new challenges to face. This year one of the main challenges for him will be sitting his SAT's. Harrison's school are being very understanding and I know will provide him any additional support that he needs over the next few months but he is quite anxious already and has been for roughly the last 6 months. This can mean that Harrison in himself can seem fine but his anxiety may show in other ways, for example meltdowns for no reason, seeking more comfort in the night, wanting to stay at home in his safe space. I am not telling people this for sympathy for Harrison or us but to highlight that you can never be sure what other people are going through.

Just like last year I want to raise awareness of autism, some of the challenges/judgements we have received have been the following:

The child sat watching their iPad with headphones on in a restaurant may not be the lazy parenting you assume, it could be the only way that child can sit at the table without be overwhelmed by the number of people/noises around them.

The older child that still has a comforter is not being babied, it is their way of blocking out the stimulus around them that they cannot control, it may literally be their safety blanket.

The child that doesn't make eye contact with you straight away and struggles to answer your questions may not be rude or shy but be struggling with how to communicate or process their feelings with the situation.

The child having a meltdown is not a spoilt brat but may be dealing with a change in their routine that they weren't expecting.

The child spinning, rocking or tapping themselves or repeating a word is not doing it to annoy you, they are dealing with an overload of stimulus and are trying to comfort themselves and self calm - this is called stimming (feel free to have a google).

A child does not 'look like' they have autism.

Autism is a lifelong developmental disability that affects how people perceive the world and interact with others. Autistic people see, hear and feel the world differently to other people. If you are autistic, you are autistic for life; autism is not an illness or disease and cannot be cured.

I am running again for Autism East Midlands as they are an amazing charity who not only run a specialist day school and adult residential homes but also provide priceless support to families and individuals who are affected by autism.

If you can spare anything to support me again, anything at all, it really does give me a huge boost during the long, dark, cold winter months when I will be out pounding the streets once again.

Thank you to everyone again for your continued support not just for the marathon but for Harrison as us as a family, it really does mean more than I can ever put into words.

Emma x

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