When Daniel Booth noticed that people were starring at him in the street, he wanted to make it stop.
Daniel has ADHD and is on the autism spectrum. Small changes to his routine can be difficult for him to cope with and on occasions, his behaviour makes people – mostly adults – starring at him.
So, to make it stop, Daniel, eight, has created cards to explain his diagnosis and help people understand why sometimes he acts the way he does.
With the help of his mum, Karen, 36, Daniel now has a pack of cards which he can hand out if he feels people are looking at him, or treating him differently.
The cards read: “Stop don’t judge me! I’m not naughty or rude. My name is Dan and I am Autistic and I have ADHD. Life is a challenge and the more people that understand it the better it will be. Thank you for reading… Have a nice day.”
Speaking to Yahoo, Karen revealed Dan’s clever idea is helping to change perceptions.
“It’s hard for children with a condition that you cannot see, because people judge them without knowing their difficulties,” Karen explained.
“One day Dan turned to me and said ‘What can I do to tell people why I am shouting?’ He likes to be in control and so we talked about what he could do and we came up with the cards.
“He chose what to write on the cards and it is always up to him when and where he wants to hand them to people. We did think about a badge but thought it would draw too much attention.”
It’s thought 700,000 people in the UK are on the autism spectrum. For help and advice, check out The National Autistic Society.