Estimated reading time: 1 minute, 37 seconds

Peer support is so important.

A small effort on the part of a peer or a non-autistic person, or a friend, makes an exponentially massive difference and benefit to an autistic person's life.

Here’s an example: I have something called misophonia* which means I don't like certain sounds.

For me, this means I can't like stand the sound of keys or coins or jewellery. Hearing those sounds gives me a lot of the anxiety and ruins my day.

So a small difference that you can make, for example, would be having your keys in a pocket that doesn't make them jangle around, or waiting until I'm out of sight to like use them. This makes a massive impact on my day.

Adjustments like this allow me to be, I suppose, a much better companion to you as I'd be less worrying about things like this.

I think it's important because it's our duty as human beings to be kind and get along with each other.

I say this because if you think about it, we've all benefited from kindness from others at different points in our life.

I believe it's our duty to try and accommodate the people around us as best we can.

I think the small things that we can do and I can do to make you more comfortable and you can do to make me more comfortable, we will all have a happier life overall.

So that's my take on why peer support is so important.

* Misophonia is a condition where certain sounds trigger emotional or physiological responses

Thank you for sharing, Annabel!

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