Make It Stop film helps us to understand autism – words Alan Woods

To the outside world it can seem as if people with autism are cut off from other people. At worst it can be often misread that autistic people do not want to connect with other people. This is often just a mistake, a misreading of the condition. We need to understand autism to counteract this misunderstanding.

People with autism are in fact all very different. They do though tend to struggle with information overload. This latest film Make It Stop produced by the National Autistic Society intends to show people what it can be like for a person with autism going about their everyday life.

It stars Holly, 12 as she experiences the world and how she can become overwhelmed by information and by people who misunderstand the nature of the condition. As Holly herself explains “I’m autistic. And sometimes I get too much information. It’s as if my brain is too crowded and about the explode. But by taking a minute, you can give an autistic person like me the time they need.”

Holly appeared in the video and agreed to be the star so she could in turn show the film to her classmates and help them to understand her and the way autism affects her life. This was the first time that Holly bravely discussed how she felt openly and to an audience.

The National Autistic Society worked with creative agency Don’t Panic on the short charity film. Many autistic people need more time to process information and sometimes just understanding this more can go a long way to helping the situation. Holly explains “sometimes I get really upset that people do not understand the condition. But I hope this campaign will help improve understanding and make other people who are autistic feel more accepted”.

Holly along with the NAS helped her school introduce small changes into her routine that have helped her. This has improved her school life massively and these are easy to introduce and didn’t even cost much to implement. It is the fact that they now understand autism that changed the school’s attitude and in turn has helped Holly and others like her.

“If just one person sees the film and is more understanding to autistic people, I’ll be happy,” the young star proclaims.

To find out more about the Too Much Information campaign shot in short film format and learn more about the pledges, visit here