In 1848 a group of students from Cambridge University wrote a set of 11 rules for the game of football. These were nailed to trees surrounding Parker’s Piece, a 25-acre green space near the city centre. The new rules were used in games on the green and were amended several times before being adopted by the FA in 1863. On a recent visit to Cambridge I took my football fanatic sons to see the monument to these rules which is located at one end of Parker's Piece.
To be honest I was a little underwhelmed although my linguistic brain enjoyed reading the various lines of foreign languages. The monument did get me thinking though. Rules are so important for both football and for autistic people. Imagine a game where anything goes. You can stray offside, foul, cheat and do anything you need to do to win. Think how much abuse the poor referees endure when fans consider their decisions incorrect or biased. Football fans expect that rules are adhered to for the duration of the game and without rules football would not be the great sport that it is.
Players and fans know the rules of the game and understand the consequences of every action from corners to free kicks to penalties. Yellow and red cards make it glaringly obvious to all when rules have been broken.
There are rules everywhere and not just in football. In everyday life there are rules which we all try to follow, some more successfully than others. I am not talking about laws and legislation but the simple rules of social interaction and communication which have unfortunately not been written down. Think again of the chaos and unfairness which would dominate a football match without rules. Well, sometimes it can seem to autistic people that there are rules to everyday life which have not been shared with them. The majority seem to have mastered the rules and know what to do and what to say while autistic people may not always be able to keep up. Like the unregulated football match, the world can seem chaotic and unfair.
Autistic individuals often struggle to recognise and understand social cues. It can be hard to initiate and end conversations and choosing the topic is tricky. Few people want to discuss the Holocaust at a party, and it can be difficult to read when people are bored. Society expects that we make eye contact when talking which many autistic people find impossible.
Where there are written rules, autistic people will follow these to the letter. We may not always pick up on sarcasm or be able to tell when someone is joking which results in frequent misunderstandings. If you want an honest answer to a question, you should seek out an autistic person because they will tell you exactly what they think with no filter! Don’t be surprised if an autistic person says that the dinner you have spent hours cooking is horrible, that the film is boring or that you do look fat in that dress.
To truly accept autistic people into society we all need to be aware how we can support them. In the same way as somebody new to football needs to be shown the skills to play and taught the rules of the game, autistic people sometimes need a reminder of what they should or could say and do in certain situations. Please accept that not everybody plays the game in the same way, but all should be made welcome to step onto the pitch and allowed to show their individual talents and personality.
#footballrules #FA #aspergers #autism #lifeonthespectrum #autismacceptance #autismawareness #adultautism #cambridge #parkerspiece #lawsoffootball #cambridgeuniversity #thisisautism
Kommentare