Andy – Waitākere
“Patience, tolerance, amusement, frustration; every emotion there is. Honesty, truthfulness, creativity of oneself.
I was born in England. I came over here in 1969, became a naturalised New Zealander in 2001; didn’t want to make a snap decision. I live in the Waitākere’s. At the moment I’m at retirement age, but I’m working in commercial real estate. That’s about it, really. That’s me in a nutshell. I’m fortunate enough, and some people would say unfortunately enough, to have two grandchildren that are on the autistic scale.
I also have three grandchildren that are not, but the other two have a totally different view on life – a totally different aspect on understanding and comprehension, and of community. So, yeah I’ve been on a huge learning curve with all of them.
Well, the first thing I’d say about people who say, oh that child has autism; the answer is, they don’t. They are autistic. You have the flu, you have a disease. You are autistic, you are challenged. The way they look at life is through a pure honesty. Yes, sometimes it’s packed with a lot of lies, but you can pick those out. They way they look at life is actually quite beautiful at times, and there’s always the child within them that comes out. It’s something you have to be involved with.
In our industry, you have to say, hello. We have to say hi to everybody because… you’re in real estate, because you have a personality, because you are good connecting with people. So yeah, and a lot more people should, instead of scowl at each other as they walk past; just smile or say hi. It does no harm. It costs nothing.
I think basically for a community the only thing that is really needed, is to show improved kindness to your fellowman in your community, and acknowledge them. We’re fortunate that our two are in normal schools, although one’s in a special class. The education system does its best to try and normalise them, but I don’t think they understand the concept of community.”
