02/04/2025
World Autism Awareness Day: The Magic of My Autistic Brain
Hi, Iām Chrisāand Iām part of the creative brain behind Spectra Events.
After 35 years of trying to āfit in,ā Iāve come to realise that I began masking the moment I stopped feeling like myself. For years, I adapted, camouflaged, and reshaped how I presented to the worldāwithout even knowing I was doing it. That survival instinct was my normal.
But beginning the process of being diagnosed as autistic has changed everything. Itās helped me see myself more clearly. Understand myself. Appreciate myself. And slowly but surely, Iām beginning to unmask. To feel more āmeā than I have in years.
Today, on World Autism Awareness Day, Iām not just raising awarenessāIām celebrating the magic of my autistic brain.
My brain doesnāt just thinkāit builds. Itās a full production studio working 24/7. I donāt just imagine ideas, I experience them. I can picture entire projects, events, layouts, or campaigns before a single thing has been actioned. I walk into a space and see the potential instantlyānot just what it is, but what it could be. From the tiny details to the whole atmosphere, I feel it like itās already happened.
My memories arenāt snapshotsātheyāre immersive. I can remember the colour of the light in a room, the texture of the air, the wording someone used. I can relive them with cinematic clarityāsometimes painfully, sometimes beautifully. My mind holds onto emotion like itās part of the architecture. And when it comes to planning, imagining, creatingāI donāt think in outlines. I think in entire universes.
Where some people see a moment, I see threads. Layers. Possibilities. That makes me a deep thinker, a strong feeler, and often someone who sees connections others donāt. It also means I process the world in surround sound, high definition, full volume. Yes, that can be overwhelmingābut itās also what makes life so alive.
My brain doesnāt settle for surface-levelāit goes deep. It unpacks, unpicks, reimagines, reinvents. I donāt approach tasks from a checklistāI approach them like a puzzle or a painting. I bring energy, vision, and intensity. Thatās part of my magic.
Being autistic means Iāve had to work hard to exist in a world that often asks me to be lessāto tone it down, to mask, to make myself easier. But the more I unmask, the more I realise: Iām not too much. The world has just been too narrow in its definition of what āenoughā looks like.
My brain isnāt a limitation. Itās a gift. A creative, expansive, fiercely feeling, relentlessly curious gift.
So today, on World Autism Awareness Day, I want to celebrate all of that. Not just awarenessābut appreciation. Not just acceptanceābut acknowledgement of the incredible value that neurodivergent people bring to the world.
Because this brain of mine?
Itās not broken.
Itās brilliant.
