Special bond

Thursday 3 December is the International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD), an annual celebration of people with disabilities.

Throughout this week, as part of our IDPD coverage, our Disability steering group will be bringing you personal stories from colleagues who either have a disability themselves – both visible and otherwise – or they have experience of looking after someone with a disability.

Today’s story is from Samantha Parsons, account manager sales and channels on how her brother’s autism has had a positive impact on her life.

‘My brother Matty was diagnosed with autism when he was four-years-old,’ said Samantha. ‘He’s now 31. At the time, very little was known about how families were supposed to adapt or manage challenging behaviours associated with autism, and support was limited. Matty’s diagnosis helped to explain his behaviours and enabled us as a family to better understand and empathise with him.

‘Matty needs to have a structure to his day and likes to stick to his routine. Any deviation from what he’s accustomed to can cause him to cry and bite himself as he struggles to process change. As a family, we have learned over time to explain things to him beforehand, so he’s prepared for something that might be a little different than usual to him.

‘Since our Dad passed away three years ago, Matty comes to stay with my husband and I and we love having this special time with him. His feelings are pure of heart. When he hugs you and tells you he loves you, I simply can’t put into words just how much that touches your heart.

‘One lasting memory is linked to the above picture. Our family have a yearly weekend away and two years ago, we went to the beach, but Matty was scared to go in the sea. We finally managed to get him in only up to his knees (Matty’s instructions) and the smile on his face will never leave me. He loved it and the water fight with all his siblings that followed. It was a really precious moment.

‘Matty is an inspiration to me and he is completely adored by the whole family. He has elevated our family to have a very special bond.’

What is autism?

Autism is a lifelong developmental disability, which affects how people communicate and interact with the world. One in 100 people are on the autism spectrum and there are around 700,000 autistic adults and children in the UK. 

Being autistic does not mean you have an illness or disease. It means your brain works in a different way from other people. Autism is something you're born with or first appears when you're very young. If you're autistic, you're autistic for life. Click here for more information.

Supporting our people

As one of the UK’s biggest employers, we are committed to putting equality and diversity at the heart of our business. Call our internal disability helpline on 0800 028 6142 for advice if you are a disabled colleague or manager looking for support with organising reasonable adjustments.

If you have any questions you would like to raise directly with the network, or you would like information on how to obtain support or advice on managing someone with a disability, please email Disabilitysteeringgroup@royalmail.com.

Don’t forget, if you’re interested in joining the Disability conversation, the group has a Facebook page. Please email Disabilitysteeringgroup@royalmail.com and let them know the email address you normally use to sign into Facebook and your payroll number. You’ll then be sent an invitation to join.