Swanton

Laurence Mitchell has had a lifelong challenge with behavioural traits that prevented him from fulfilling his goals. At the age of forty-nine, he was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome and ADHD. If his diagnosis was not bad enough, his wife took her own life in 2004, leaving Laurence to look after his three children. Social services deemed his condition too dangerous to be fit enough for the role of a responsible parent and considerations were taken to put his fourteen-year-old daughter into care. His two other children were old enough to look after themselves. At a point of despair, desperate to be recognised as a responsible parent over the next couple of years, Laurence was supported by the advice of a specialist Asperger's support school to learn how to live with the condition and to get on with his life. During this period, he began to take an interest in personal communication. In 2006, he was introduced to a life coach who showed him a unique way to live a life free from the labels that had so long trapped him. He decided to devote his spare time between his antiques business in researching as much as he could about the communication challenges people suffer on the autism spectrum. He went on to launch, in 2008, an autism resource, www.lifewithoutlabels.co.uk, as well as speak at major professional autism conferences internationally. However, Laurence was holding onto a dark secret, which he was scared to reveal for fear of being thrown into jail.Simultaneously, with increasing press coverage about Aspies being deemed 'dangerous people' and the victimisation of Gary McKinnon, in 2015 Laurence struck up the courage to report to the police a historical incident where he had been victim to paedophiles since the sixties.But he had an unanswered question: why him? It was only later, during subsequent investigations, he discovered a condition present in not just people with autism but neuro-typicals too, Alexithymia. Could it be a simple cue, a facial expression, that attracts paedophiles to their victims and, being autistic, the sensation is amplified or exaggerated, making them more of a target? In part, Aspie and Me is Laurence's story based on real life events. His passion is to tell other people that they are not alone. It is time for them to bear their souls and he will do his best to offer his guidance and emotional support.