Tony Mantor: Why Not Me the World
Junaid Hussain's Advocacy for Autism Awareness and Acceptance
Wed, 27 Nov 2024
Send us a textImagine discovering that the challenges your child faces are, in fact, a reflection of your own. Junaid Hussain, a family medicine physician, shares his deeply personal journey of navigating autism and ADHD within his family, a path that began with his son's diagnosis at the age of eight and led to his own self-discovery. You'll hear about the profound changes and adaptations they've made, such as homeschooling and medication, to better support their son's emotional regulation and impulsivity. Junaid’s story is not just about overcoming obstacles but also about embracing the unique journey of acceptance and understanding that comes with raising a neurodivergent child.We also shed light on the broader societal landscape of autism awareness, starting from the initial hurdles families encounter before a diagnosis is established. Junaid discusses how speech and language therapists play a crucial role in helping families understand autism-related behaviors. Moreover, we address the urgent need for empathy and awareness not only in society but also within the medical community. Junaid's experiences have fueled his advocacy for improved autism understanding across diverse communities, stressing the importance of media and education in fostering a more empathetic society.Finally, we offer guidance for those grappling with autism and ADHD diagnoses, whether early in life or later stages. The potential overlap between autism and ADHD is explored, emphasizing the value of professional guidance and resources, including insights from experts like Professor Tony Atwood. We highlight the importance of self-care for parents to ensure they are well-equipped to support their children effectively. This episode is a testament to the power of sharing personal stories, inspiring hope, and building a connected community where everyone feels supported and understood.https://tonymantor.comhttps://Facebook.com/tonymantorhttps://instagram.com/tonymantorhttps://twitter.com/tonymantorhttps://youtube.com/tonymantormusicintro/outro music bed written by T. WildWhy Not Me the World music published by Mantor Music (BMI)
Chapter 1: What is the main focus of Junaid Hussain's story?
Hopefully, you gain more awareness, acceptance, and a better understanding for autism around the world. Hi, I'm Tony Mantor. Welcome to Why Not Me? The World. Today, Junaid Hussain joins us. We will be discussing his son, which was diagnosed autistic and ADHD. We'll also discuss how he found that he mirrored his son's behavior and was diagnosed autistic along with ADHD as well.
Thanks for coming on the show today. Thank you so much. Oh, the pleasure's all mine. I understand that you practice medicine and became a doctor in the UK.
So I'm a doctor in the state to be known as a family medicine physician, a primary care doctor in the UK. So I completed my training in 2015 and I've been a doctor since both here and in the UK, also in the Middle East as well. In terms of autism and ADHD and neurodivergence, That came about I think in the last four to five years after my son's diagnosis of autism or ADHD.
When was your son diagnosed autistic?
He was diagnosed right at the beginning of 2020. He was about eight years old at the time. We knew for many years he struggled with his mental health. And it was difficult, even as a doctor myself, to pinpoint and find out why and what was happening. We had a lot of discussions with different people. Eventually, a friend of mine, who's a psychiatrist, I spoke with him.
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Chapter 2: How did Junaid's son's diagnosis change their family dynamics?
And I said, look, I'm worried, very anxious, very depressed. And I don't know why he's only eight years old. I don't know where this is coming from. And through the usual questionnaires and spinning tools, he made a formal diagnosis of autistic spectrum disorder and ADHD.
Once he was diagnosed autistic, you finally had the opportunity to understand what was going on and the reasons behind some of the issues that you thought he had. How did that change him and how did that change your life?
Massively. I can't overstate how big the change was in our life. So from his perspective, he eventually stabilized on a medicine called atomoxetine, which is a type of antidepressant, but it also works for ADHD. and it controlled his impulsivity, his mood, a significant amount. It's not perfect.
With autism, autistic children and those with neurodivergence will struggle with the emotional regulation. They still struggle with that, but it's been life-changing. For someone who would be impossible to teach in school and sit down and learn, if someone is academically now not thriving, do yet, but getting towards that stage where he, you know, he's actually able to function and live.
So I, from a family perspective, you know, we're not seeing a child is set in the corner of the room crying and having outbursts and hitting the head against the wall, literally, and then, you know, becoming violent. So that was dramatic. For my own, in my own case, it was my, my wife. who saw that my own behaviors mirrored to some extent some of my son's.
So I was diagnosed with depression or depressive disorder back in 2010, 2011, because that's what it was assumed that it was. The reality is that, you know, it ended up being autism as a diagnosis, autistic spectrum disorder and ADHD as a diagnosis.
Now that you have a better understanding of what's going on, how has he adapted to the outside influences like friends, family, and ultimately schooling?
So in his case, we have to homeschool him. He will struggle in an ordinary academic setting because of the vulnerabilities that come with his neurodivergence. So he'll be prone to either bullying or to being a follower in terms of following other children who perhaps may push him into a particular path that's not necessarily desirable.
So we're having to homeschool him or having some private tutoring. Yeah, but his ability to be able to interact with others is amazing. It must be better. His ability to focus, his ability to complete tasks. At the same time, there are some pervasive, persistent symptoms that haven't got better yet, for which he requires therapy.
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Chapter 3: What adaptations did the family make for their son's education?
The neurodivergence is not always well understood by others. It's a relatively new emerging factor in the world. So some family, thankfully, do understand and they've recognized and seen that a whole lot of things are not 100% right. And they've been able to understand that this is a type of development that's occurred in him and they're there to adapt for him.
For example, they don't come around to a house except that they give us a warning 24 hours in advance so that he doesn't have to pry from his routines that are destructive and so on. So these adaptions are made. For some, they look at him as this is a destructive child. Why is he behaving in this way? Why is he rude? Why is he not paying attention? Why is he not saying hello?
That fits his self-esteem because he sees that, but he doesn't necessarily understand why. Because it is still very much a journey. With friends, it's interesting because he struggles to maintain those friends type of relationships. He has in boys his age who he knows. How many of those he truly poor friends, it's difficult to say.
They're getting down to that naturally isolationist mentality that develops with autism and neurodivergence. So he struggled with developing friends to some extent or another.
Sure. Now, do you have other children as well? I do. How is the interaction between your other children and him?
So again, as an adult, I struggle to interact with him and to understand him fully. Then you can imagine how difficult it is for his siblings. They can struggle at times. He requires a little bit more time to be supported than his siblings. That causes the disproportionality in terms of the time we give to his child. that can bring resentment. He requires, you know, his fixations.
And at the moment, for example, he's very interested in politics and geography and war and so on. He needs his time on YouTube. He needs his time to do specific things. And then the siblings will, their natural sibling rivalry, what about me? What about my camera? What about my touch and search? Thankfully, they're not so physical with each other, but the verbal side is there between them.
And it's difficult, again, as a parent as well, because you try to give equal weight to each child. but there is a natural disparity because some children unfortunately require that bit of extra support that others don't necessarily.
Yes, that can be extremely difficult. I've spoken with several parents. There's a common thread amongst most of them, and that is that when their child gets focused on something, that's all they eat, breathe, and sleep with. Is your son like that? Does he get extremely focused on things that he likes to do?
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Chapter 4: How does Junaid manage his son's meltdowns?
When we look at the media, autism is often, you know, when you look at autistic characters in movies and TV shows, they're often funny. You know, they're often the weird ones who have, you know, some sort of weird or funny trait. I mean, I'm not sure whether you're familiar with the a character in the UK called Mr. Bean.
It's a comedy about a man who doesn't speak much, but there's all these funny actions and it's all nonsensical and stupid actions, clearly based on someone who may have autism or neurodivergence. So when that, when that, when autism is buffed out across even media, mainstream media has
being funny people to look at and laugh at and you know isn't it funny that they said that in such a blunt way and they speak in such a direct way and so on then there's a lot of work to do then we we can as individuals to do a small amount but i think that the biggest and best way to get that understanding is through it's as much media as possible so people see it from the i can hear it from from sources that need to hear it and see it from
Yes, we as people sometimes find humor the only way to address something when it's uneasy to talk about. They're really not lightening it up. They're really creating more of an issue than they really realize, unfortunately.
The best thing, I think, if we could find a way where people could just sit down, communicate like we are, put across the things that need to be addressed so people understand, and that might just help them understand what the autistic community actually has to deal with on a daily basis.
Absolutely. Absolutely. I think the work we're doing here is absolutely vital. Any and every advocate, their work is essential because it all adds up. It all makes a little bit of difference. Even if there's two or three people, one person who is benefiting from this podcast for sake of argument, then they then go on to influence other people. It's a ripple effect.
And so it's essential, but it's essential that the autistic voice is heard and understood. Like you said, there's one thing being heard, but another thing being understood. Why do autistic people think they're blunt in the way they speak? Why do they miss emotional and social cues? How does that manifest? And how could that affect the workplace? How could that affect
you know, their medical treatment, how could that affect the way they shot and the way they, you know, what clothes they wear, why they wear clothes in a particular way, because of the sensory issues that they have. Why would a child struggle to listen to, you know, loud noises or music? Because of the sensory issues.
So it's all these, I don't know, all these sort of educational points, I don't know, and eventually it'll make an impact, but it's a slow journey, unfortunately.
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Chapter 5: What support systems helped the family cope with autism?
I can almost immediately tell both who have autism because of the way and directness in which they speak. And the difficulty and anxiety that comes through the phone when they're trying to explain their symptoms and explain the challenges, but they're unable to and they need to take more time.
Or they jump from topic to topic because they have the neurodivergence and ADHD that causes them to struggle to focus. So, yeah, I do see it. And I make sure, from my own perspective, I make sure I take more time with them because it is necessary in order to do justice to the needs that they have.
I have more recently had parents of children with autism come to me and again, and to my wife as well for advice. We had the experience both as a child and having a child with autism and also myself. So we do get that. But within my day-to-day work, yeah, we do get a lot of autistic people who do ring up or who do come and see us.
And the challenge is for me now, having had the lived experience, it's a lot clearer. I'm able to meet their needs a lot better and a lot more easily than I would have done historically. To be honest, I would probably be in the camp of clinicians if they asked me 10 or 15 years ago about ADHD. No, that's a condition of too much cereal, too much etc. But boy, has my mind changed.
What would you tell people that are just finding out that their child might be autistic or is autistic? or they're just finding out that they're autistic and they found out later in life, what are some of the things that you might tell them to help them understand and start creating a pattern for their life that will better it for the future?
So there's lots of advice to give in no particular order necessarily, but I would start with make sure that if you can afford it and you're able to get it, or you have medical cover for it, to get the professional assistant in early.
for you to be able to understand your child and for the diagnosis to relate to the child because they understand, because they will enter school or they will enter the world and see that they are different in some form or another to other children. So hiding the diagnosis from them does no one any good.
So make sure that they understand why they are the way they are and that you love them very much, no matter how they are and society will begin to understand them. They should carry on the way they are. So that's the first thing. The second thing I'd say is that there is a big overlap between ADHD and autistic spectrum disorder.
So I think around about 30 or 40% of those with autism have ADHD as a dual diagnosis. So not all behaviors that come from autism are necessarily explained by, or come from ADHD, are necessarily explained through autism. So if a child has further symptoms, for example, they're really struggling to focus, they're fidgeting and moving around a lot, and they're unable to stay still.
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Chapter 6: How can parents help their children with autism understand their emotions?
They look vacant a lot of the time, staring into space, rather than concentrating on TV or concentrating on a video book. Beware that there may be a dual diagnosis alongside the autistic spectrum disorder. So they may need further support or even medication in that respect. The third thing I'd say is that
once once you know that the diagnosis is there and you will no doubt start to look for resources i start to read more around the subject and there are particular resources this podcast is amazing but there are um resources that i'd also say that are really really useful to professionals who really for me at least explain my son's condition in a really easy to understand way
So there is Professor Tony Atwood, who now lives in Australia, but he's a British psychologist, I believe, who does a fantastic work around ADHD and autism research, autistic burnout, and even around the effects it has on you as a parent, because an autistic child is challenging in education settings. You know, we're educated, get to go home and have time without that child there.
You have a child with you, you know, essentially, On the weekends, otherwise you have them there with you all day. You can't just dump them somewhere else. And that will have an effect on you and on your mental health. And you can only help them if you look after yourself as well. So make sure that you have that support either for yourself.
You have people around you who understand you or you build in mechanisms that allow you to regulate yourself as well.
Yeah, that's great information. I really have enjoyed this. I want to thank you for coming on the show. I think it's been a wealth of information.
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Chapter 7: What common misconceptions exist about autism?
Sorry for having me. Thank you so much for the amazing work you're doing here as well with this. Really, really, it's been incredible. Honestly, you have a great amount of respect for me because it's an amazing and important effort that you're doing that will be impactful for so many people. And it's an avenue for them to understand the condition better.
And for people like myself who have that diagnosis, to be able to relay that information to others as well in a digestible manner. Because we may listen to this and it may change their life. Thank you so much for your time. Thank you so much.
Thank you and the pleasure is all mine. Thanks for taking the time out of your busy schedule to listen to our show today. We hope that you enjoyed it as much as we enjoyed bringing it to you. If you know anyone that would like to tell us their story, send them to tonymantor.com. Contact, then they can give us their information so one day they may be a guest on our show.
One more thing we ask, tell everyone, everywhere, about Why Not Me? The World. The conversations we're having, and the inspiration our guests give to everyone, everywhere, that you are not alone in this world.