I visited Jon and Mary in their home and spent time with them both. Jon and I sketched together – he drew a picture of Mr Bean and I sketched Jon as he drew.  I then invited Jon to draw a self-portrait, which he did, envisaging himself in front of a rollercoaster.

In creating a portrait of someone, an artist will employ a particular sensitivity to light, shade, angles, positive and negative light. The aim is to capture some essence of the subject as a person.

This is what Jon and I have done here, with the intention of sharing a different kind of observation of a young child who has autism, that avoids the clinical language and perspective of many within the health system. While a diagnosis may be helpful in explaining or understanding some aspects to a child’s behaviour, it says nothing about who they are as a person. In other words, it’s only one tiny part of who that individual is.