Being a Lawyer with Autistic Spectrum Disorder

Written By Mark Pearce

“If you can’t explain it simply you don’t understand it well enough” might be easy for a man of Einstein’s intellect to say but while I have been autistic my entire life it is still difficult to explain precisely what this means.

At its core, autism is a set of neurological traits, which share some similarities with one another but, ultimately are unique to each individual. It is often therefore referred to as autistic spectrum disorder or “ASD”. 

AI defines autism as “a lifelong developmental disability that affects how people communicate, learn, interact with others, and behave”. The national autistic society defines six key areas where ASD impacts individuals: social communication, repetitive and restrictive behaviour, sensory sensitivity, hyper-focussed interests, extreme anxiety and meltdowns. I define it as being me.

Autism is increasingly in the public eye. Globally, in 2012, 0.1% of children were diagnosed as autistic while in 2022 that had increased ten-fold to 1%. In the UK there was a 787% increase in autism diagnoses between 1998 and 2018. This reflects, in my opinion, the greater understanding of autism and better clinical specialists rather than an inherent growth in the prevalence of autism.

Autism for me is most apparent when I am in social settings. There seems to be an unwritten set of rules that neurotypical people naturally appear to understand but which I only find out when I break those rules. Supposedly simple questions such as, “do you like my hair cut” actually often translate to “I have spent money on my hair and am feeling a bit unsure about it so please say something affirming about it.” “No” might be an honest response but that does not make it an acceptable response. In a world where truth appears to be becoming increasingly subjective, it is definitely true that honesty is not always the best or most acceptable policy.

Meeting people, especially new people, can often make me feel anxious. Fortunately, I am very well supported at home and work so I am comfortable with telling people fairly quickly that I am autistic. I know that many people are not so comfortable and will often put on a mask. Masking is used to mimic how autistic people believe they are expected to act but is, as the name suggests, hiding or concealing our true selves.  Not only does this expend a great deal of energy but also means that a person often has to guess how they should respond to a situation. This is often made harder when alcohol is involved as while the autistic brain may appreciate the ‘cooling’ or ‘slowing’ effect of alcohol on their brain it makes it harder to maintain a mask. It can quickly become a vicious spiral where an autistic person drinks, makes a faux-pas, drinks because they’re embarrassed and so on.

Another common trait of autism is tiredness. An ESPN report, initially looking at chess grandmasters, concluded that autistic individuals burn approximately four times the number of calories when resting as opposed to a neurotypical person. While some people are unlikely to sympathise with the difficulty putting on weight, it means that by mid-afternoon I am often very tired. As with everyone, tiredness often exacerbates difficulties, which is one reason I try to hold the majority of meetings in the morning or early afternoon rather than in the evening. I don’t think I would turn into a pumpkin if I was still up at midnight but I would certainly resemble a vegetable.

Fixation, or hyper-focus, can also be a double-edged sword. While it means that when I am interested in something I work incredibly hard to get good at it (although my chess game may tell a different story) it can lead to obsessive behaviour and disproportionate responses when I don’t do well. Each day I try to keep to a routine that includes some time on my various hobbies but with a maximum time commitment in order to prevent me from spending a whole day on a single activity. Weekends are often harder than weekdays due to their less structured approach. Most weekends I will create an hour-by-hour timetable so I know what I am going to be doing. Without this I can often feel lost at the weekends and struggle to motivate myself.

I have a t-shirt that says ‘Autism is my superpower, what’s yours?’ This reflects that I consider autism to be as much if not more of a benefit than a detriment but whatever it is, or isn’t, it’s not simple.

With a special thank you to Mark Pearce , we are signing off. If you have questions or would like to discuss this with Mark himself, please comment or follow him.

Till then , Stay Amazing!