Earlier this year, Gwilym joined ConnectFutures as an intern, exploring topics like fake news, online misogyny and media literacy. During his time with us, he wrote a reflective blog capturing his interests – from physics to filmmaking – his experiences and his hopes for a better understanding of neurodivergent young people.
Since then, Gwilym has successfully interviewed to join our Youth Advisory Board, and now sits as one of its 7 founding members. In this first-ever #CFYOUTHTAKEOVER, he shares what he learned, what excites him, and what he wants educators to know about supporting autistic young people like himself.
Tell us about yourself!
I am a 15 year old autistic young man. I got my diagnosis in 2021, and now l am studying for my GCSEs, with particular interests in Physics and the other sciences. I also have interests outside school, in areas such as gaming (no surprise) and watching movies (Paths of Glory and Interstellar are my favourite).
Currently, I am reading a book about superstring theory, The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene, in which I have read past the explanations of special and general relativity and I am now onto quantum mechanics. I just read the explanation of the Planck constant and the quantifying of energy. These help us to better understand how to measure the energy of electromagnetic waves- like light.
What are the topics you are interested in at the moment and how have you been able to explore them during your work experience week with ConnectFutures?
I am very interested in people and how they react, grow and change. This has been an interest of mine for a while and I hope to use this interest to my advantage in filmmaking and writing in the future. ConnectFutures has allowed me to explore this interest in more detail, showing me how different experiences can interact with each other and help to paint a clear picture. This is the founding principle behind ConnectFutures- to connect different people with different perspectives and experiences of an issue so that they can work together to help create a better solution.
I’ve been interested in how something considered to be a radical and extremist idea to the general population can shift and change. Youth Engagement Officer, Savannah, introduced me to the concept of the Overton window which I found very interesting.
According to Wikipedia:
‘The Overton window is the range of subjects and arguments politically acceptable to the mainstream population at a given time. It is also known as the window of discourse.’
We spoke about what is acceptable and when, what is extreme and when, and how the definition of being radical shifts and changes. Of course, Connect Futures engages with this, updating their content to help people better understand the shifting political landscape. Preparing and adapting to new issues arising and older ones changing.
From my perspective, as an autistic person, I have seen many like me fall down what I believe to be extremist paths. For example, the path of the far-right, with some becoming ‘Manosphere’ fans. So it is interesting to see how people are trying to combat this endemic amongst young people.
I find it quite difficult to answer when people ask:
“Why have these online ‘Manosphere’ leaders not managed to convince young men like you?”
I suppose there are a myriad of factors. A lot of the groups that these figures refer to, are people that I genuinely know and so the stories they tell about people’s malicious agendas often don’t align with my experiences. I also speak to my parents about these issues a lot and have the chance to think about the ideas of these ‘Manosphere’ figures and whether they make sense. Often they turn out to be…dumb.
I feel like I also notice that the motives behind some of the leaders are suspect…that they are doing this for profit, making money from insecure young men struggling with life. Insecurity is understandable as it can be difficult to be a young man today, but it’s not an excuse to make others feel insecure.
I really like that ConnectFutures runs workshops for young people and educators about these topics and how to pick up on signs and prevent young people from falling down the rabbit hole.
What has been your biggest takeaway from your internship week?
My biggest takeaway from this week: optimisation.
Until this week I had no idea that companies optimise their content to such a degree. At ConnectFutures I saw members of the team redesigning how they would deliver the information to suit their audience. For example, I was given the opportunity to accompany Senior Facilitator, Malik, during his delivery of an Ofcom-funded workshop with parents on ‘Media Literacy’ at Dream Chaser Youth Club in Small Heath, Birmingham. English was not the first language of some parents, so they had an interpreter there to translate. To help with this Malik changed his style of delivery so that the information came in packages that were far easier for the translator to digest and translate. He also simplified the words he was using and used gestures so that the crowd still understood what he was talking about. This was the first time I had seen a person adapt what they were saying with such incredible skill that it made the audience experience far better.
What message do you have for educators/ community leaders/ people in power?
I have a message for those with power to act on.
It is in regards to the teaching and management of young neurodivergent people such as myself. The message is really one of caring and empathy. Throughout my life I have seen adults fail to put systems in place to care for us, so do real harm. Only to then not see this or understand how.
I sometimes feel patronised by staff members. It can be quite insulting. I remember a teacher explaining what an optician is to me. I would have preferred if she asked whether I already knew. I think asking questions helps to avoid making assumptions.
I find it offensive when people treat autistic people as though they don’t have autonomy. I have heard some political commentators suggest that non-binary people are just autistic people who have a hyperfixation on an idea and are therefore more inclined to want to transition. This is offensive because it suggests that we don’t have the wisdom to do what is best for us.
As a 15 year old, my message is simply:
- Be aware of your bias: There are some experiences you have never had and never will have and so it’s important not to judge if you have never experienced them. I would also urge people not to view these experiences as abnormal or wrong but as simply different- just a different way of experiencing the world.
- Be open to listen: Another part of my message would be to appreciate that there are some parts of the issue you simply cannot solve by yourself. Try and look for input from neurodivergent people so that together you can optimise your strategies.
- Don’t generalise: I would also urge you to realise different neurodivergent people will have different experiences and different hardships and to just appreciate the variability of us and the diverse nature of our community.
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Thank you all for reading my blog and thank you to ConnectFutures for my work experience, especially to Savannah for organising the experience and guiding me through it. I’m now proud to be a member of the Youth Advisory Board recruited this year and I’m looking forward to what we’ll achieve together as a team.
If you want to learn more, reach out to us.
NEW: Our 60-90 minute Incels, Misogyny and the Manosphere workshop designed for staff, educators and professionals can be found here.
This workshop is tailored and intended to support you to confidently recognise symbols, language and propaganda of extreme misogyny and incel ideology. It will also provide a greater understanding of online and gaming spaces and how they influence this type of thinking. Participants will leave with greater confidence in practical response options.
At ConnectFutures, we create and deliver practically minded workshops that seek to develop a sense of citizenship, respect, and intolerance to hate that extends across on/offline worlds.
Price| Learning outcomes | format. Click here
