A Journey of Language, Growth, and Autism Perspectives: Stephen’s Evolution

A New World Coming Into Focus

• Stephen McHugh

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Have you ever wondered what it feels like to experience the world through a different lens? In this personal episode, I take you beneath the surface of autism, sharing my journey through powerful metaphors that illuminate the lived experience of neurodivergence.

The metaphor of ‘A New World Coming Into Focus’, reveals how my differences in language processing, social interaction, and perception gradually became clearer. It was not just for me, but for everyone connected to me. I recount my early school experiences, from the initial struggles of “wandering around the classroom" to the transformative moment when educators began to recognise my unique strengths rather than focusing solely on challenges.

You'll hear how a supportive primary school environment created the conditions for my growth by embracing flexibility and celebrating my musical talents. This acceptance opened doors to meaningful friendships, social invitations, and a sense of belonging that proved crucial to my development. The episode explores how recognition of my abilities, including piano playing and mental arithmetic, offered a powerful shift in perspective - one that asked "What's this telling us?" rather than "What's wrong?"

This episode, for me, highlights the potential of changing our lens when viewing neurodiversity. By identifying what may seem to be different or unusual can actually become meaningful and valuable, we change our understanding of autism. My journey continues to unfold and evolve, but the message remains clear. It is, to take the time to understand differences. For me, this may reveal a richer, more understanding world. Join me in exploring how shifting our perspective can help us all see strengths where others might only see challenges.



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Thanks for listening. You can find me on my website stephensevolution.com, or on twitter here. You can sign up to receive news of new episodes when they're released here.


Artwork produced by Elena Designe
Music composed by Nela Ruiz

Stephen McHugh:

Hi there and welcome back to another episode of the Stephen's Evolution podcast. I'm Stephen McHugh, your host. It is in this podcast where I talk about my lived experiences with autism, by aiming to bring them to life through metaphors. In the previous episode, I talked about the metaphor, 'The Quiet Currents Under the Surface', and the exploration of being different, like what it's like to be different from what is considered to be the norm. I would talk about how currents that were at first not apparent, but soon start to reveal something clearer, like as I was moving towards the seashore. It would be like a new world coming into focus, not just for me, but for everyone connected to me. Growing up, there would be differences in some of my behaviours. These would include patterns in the way I would interact with others and the world in general, language processing, the way I processed it. I would take more concrete views of it, and literal views of it, especially more complicated forms like idioms and metaphors. There would be differences in how I would relate to others, and I would also have difficulty with eye contact. I can compare this to a blurry view of the new land, the new world. However, gradually, it would be like the lens slowly, but gradually moving, and, slowly over time, revealing clearer details of this new world for me, in what I could see and how I would understand things. By this I'm referring to underlying improvements. These could include the underlying improvements in my language ability, which would lead to improvements in my ability to understand new concepts and apply new knowledge, along with improvements in my communication with other people, and in how I relate to them as well.

Stephen McHugh:

When I first went to infant school, what I'm going to do now here is refer to a report I recently found. It stated that they had first had doubts about me, and that I gained a great deal from being in like so-called normal surroundings. After a couple of years in infant school, we moved to a different area, and my new infant school teachers would also notice something new. Back to my previous infant school, I would be distracting at story times and other quiet times. I would sometimes wander around the classroom. As my understanding has improved of it all, maybe they were ways of me trying to cope with the demands of a mainstream school environment.

Stephen McHugh:

Over time, at my new primary school, especially following my diagnosis, the understanding of my new primary school changed, along with the support of therapists, and the backup between family and school, helping to back up what was being covered at school. They were beginning to see ways in which I could be supported in my education. At home, I would be supported in my language and reading, my writing and reading. I would be introduced to illustrations and be encouraged to describe in them what was going on in my own words. This was, I believe, an important part of getting me to improve my language skills. In addition, by getting me to write about matters related to personal experiences, there would be increased amounts of cooperation from me, and the idea was to catch these moments of cooperation. My new primary school also would spot my talent for music, most notably my piano playing. Through it, I was able to be offered a role in an orchestra for a play, which was musical to an extent. I would also be offered to show my piano skills to the rest of the school community, for which they were appreciative of.

Stephen McHugh:

Another important thing I feel worth mentioning here is being offered to do projects that were of interest to me, that were completely different to the rest of what my class was doing. What I liked here is, looking back, was the school being willing to be flexible in order to try and meet my needs as best they could. It was felt that I wouldn't get much out of what the rest of my class were doing. Plus the culture that was created at my new primary school, for me, looking back, was welcoming and was, I believe, useful in me being welcomed and accepted. I was able to make some meaningful friendships, get invited to some birthday parties along the way, along with inviting some of them to my birthdays. There were also occasions when I would also be invited on outings outside of school hours, like at weekends. When I think back to these times, it became more apparent the teachers had learned something alongside me, to think about one's strengths, like, as in my case, an example being my music.

Stephen McHugh:

One thing I think my teachers may well have learned was not just to look at what I struggled with, but see the things I was good at, and how they could be incorporated into helping me succeed as best I could. Even outside of my education and in future years, when relatives and other people could see what I was capable of, they could actually see me for who I was. An example of something I could do, like being good at the piano, being good at learning a foreign language like French, being good at mental arithmetic. It's not just about what one may be struggling with. For me, this can be about helping expand one's views of the differences of someone, like, in my case, the way in which I interacted with the world and other people, the way in which I processed language. Going back to being in the Pacific Ocean and within safe reach of the seashore, all I just needed was that little bit of support to help me along the way in my improvements. Over the years, I have noticed marked improvements in my language ability, which has opened doors for me in terms of helping me to see the variety of interesting ways in which language can be used, certainly with metaphors and idioms, in comparing language to representing other things.

Stephen McHugh:

Back to my time when I was young, autism was not widely understood. However, in my case, in my junior school, I believed I opened a door to encourage people to look beyond what's wrong and encourage them to look towards, "What's this all telling us Like? When looking at going back to my piano playing ability and my unusually good ability with mental arithmetic, in situations like this, one should look and think what's this all telling us? What may be seen as different or unusual can become recognisable and more meaningful. For me, this can be a powerful change in perspective. Such situations can highlight certain skills and any observers should ask themselves what can they offer the world? It looks like they may be able to offer some useful skills here. For instance, I was fast and accurate on the keyboard a computer keyboard and would instinctively know where the keys were. In a situation like this, one could see this as a potential asset for a job, maybe as a typist, where a fast and accurate typing speed is necessary. Attention to detail can matter here too, especially in computer programming jobs perhaps, where also logic may come into play, and being able to spot finer details that others might otherwise miss, like errors in code that may be difficult to find.

Stephen McHugh:

In my late teens and twenties, I would always be welcomed into social outings, even though I was one of the quieter ones. That, for me, helped me to feel accepted for who I was. I did tell a couple of the members of my friendship group at the time and still accepted me for who I was. Being on such social outings helped me over time to understand how to behave in social situations, such as how to listen and only give relevant information to certain conversations. If in doubt, I would just stay quiet. That me, was evidence of further improvement on my part, understanding points of views of others. Back in years gone by, I would struggle to fit into groups in my school and college days, back in my teens mid to late teens and would be frustrated at not understanding how or why. It was at that time in my late teens that I began to realise, "was it anything to do with my language development delays? Certainly in terms of understanding conversations, being able to read social cues, body language and understanding voice tones and understanding voice tones, I still am a quieter member of a group now and for me that's okay. Whenever I've been asked to demonstrate piano playing ability, especially when introduced to new members of our family tree, they look at those as a strength of mine and not focus on what I may struggle with.

Stephen McHugh:

And now, as I conclude this episode, I want to have a recap. When a new world comes into focus, we should think about not just how it's seen, but what's becoming apparent to us. My journey helped me to shift the lens for not only myself, but for others, including those who've supported me along the way, like of my teachers, my family and friends. I feel as though it's been a remarkable and interesting journey for me, and that's still ongoing. It's a reminder that clarity can take time, and by having a willingness to take the time to try and see the clarity of such a new world coming into focus.

Stephen McHugh:

Thank you for listening If you've made it this far. If you wish to stay updated on future episodes and other podcast-related news, you can find a link towards the footer of the homepage of my website, stephensevolution. com stephensevolutioncom. There you can be taken to a form to fill in your details to receive such news. You can also text the podcast your questions and comments. I'm always on the lookout for questions and comments related to episodes in order to try and keep conversations going. Remember to take time to try and understand and think,."What's What's this telling me? What are these strengths telling us?

Stephen McHugh:

Goodbye for now, and I'll see you on the next episode when I shall be talking about when others may see interests as unusual. Thank you.