I was diagnosed with autism in year eight but had struggled with it since starting secondary school. One of the biggest struggles I had was eating and drinking in a school setting due my anxiety. I also had sensory issues meaning I restricted my food intake inside and outside of school, due to these difficulties at one point I would only eat one thing as it was my only safe food.
One specific time where this affected me was in year nine when one of my ‘friends’ started to bully me due to my repetitive diet and would tell everyone in my classes about these difficulties. People were constantly asking about it, and they would send me pictures of my safe food making fun of me. This caused a massive backtrack in my progress and made me too nervous to go out for lunch, eat in school and be in classes with other students. This carried on for a few months until eventually everybody forgot about it.
It was difficult at first to find what helped me after what happened but taking myself somewhere else for break and lunch really helped. I usually went to the special education needs and disabilities (SEND) Department as a lot of other students there had the same difficulties, so it felt a lot safe and understanding. This was a great place for me to go as I didn't receive much support after the bullying situation from staff at the time. However, just having the SEND Department so accessible helped me immensely.
Something that would have helped me greatly in school would be more knowledge and understanding of the connections between public eating/drinking and autism. Later finding out that they have a massive connection helped me understand my feelings and gave me the validation I needed. In addition to this, I wish I could have talked about my problems with a safe and understanding adult. Like a lot of autistic people, I had a hard time with teachers in my school who didn't understand my needs or difficulties, but having a trusted adult who tried to understand me would have changed a lot of my negative school experiences.
Even though a lot of autistic young people experiences are similar I think it’s important to remember that everyone copes differently! Something that works for one person might not work for you and that's okay. You are not broken or damaged just because you don't fit in the same box as everyone else, you just have to find your own way and whatever works best in your situation.
If you, or someone you know, is looking for support making reasonable adjustments during school mealtimes, please read our supporting children with eating and drinking differences in education settings report. You will find more information about how to make adjustments and a downloadable reasonable adjustments form to use in your education setting.