Friendship

Isobel Williams: A Similar Mind State


Isobel was born in 1988 in Poole in Dorset. She attended local mainstream schools in Wimbourne, going on to Art College after school.

Here Isobel describes the children’s acceptance of her condition.

https://howwasschool.allfie.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/a-similar-mind-state.mp3

Transcript

I remember kind of telling people like, you know the people in my class and stuff when they’d ask like ‘Oh do you want to come to my whatever party?’ ‘Oh I can’t, I can’t run around.’ You know, ‘Oh why?' And then I would say ‘Oh I’ve got ME,’ and I remember I would just be ‘Oh it just makes me tired’ when really like that’s just the tip of the iceberg, but that was just kind of the easiest way to explain it. I remember I had a friend, and when people would ask me I’d be like ‘Oh can you explain?’ I’d get her to explain it ‘cause I didn’t really like to talk about it, but I remember thinking, you know I was still getting quite a lot of aggravation from like doctors and teachers were quite, you know, sceptical about it all, and I just remember thinking how understanding the children were, they just accepted it and they didn't, they wouldn’t even think to be like ‘Oh you’re making it up!’ and I think as well because they’re children and they have a similar mind state, like they know that really when you’re nine or ten, you just want to have fun all the time, so for someone not to be able to have fun, you know, you think like simply about it and it’s like you know, really it’s logical to think a ten-year-old would, should want to do stuff, you know, they shouldn’t want to be in bed when all their friends are out, running around, so I found like the children were really accepting and really understanding.

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