A SCHOOL pupil with autism who shot to viral fame after appearing on a BBC documentary earlier this month has opened up about his experience of the disorder and featuring on the “powerful and hard-hitting” TV show.
Thirteen-year-old Jack Darby caught the attention of people across the country and endeared himself to the nation when he was included in last Wednesday’s BBC One show ‘Paddy and Christine McGuinness: Our Family and Autism’.
Within the show, Jack, who attends Sedgefield Community College in County Durham, got the chance to talk to Paddy McGuinness about autism – after Paddy’s three children, Leo, Penelope, and Felicity were diagnosed with autism, along with his wife, Christine.
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Jack, who was told that he had autism by his parents when he was just six, uses his appearance on the show to shine a light on the work that goes on at Sedgefield Community College, which has a regional reputation to look after neurotypical and neurodiverse children, as well as describing his time growing up with autism.
In one part of the show – Jack describes having the disorder as “thinking weirdly,” with the teenager joking with Paddy that he sometimes thinks of “stupid things like fish walking in pineapple juice,” and noting that he “just got on with having autism”.
Meanwhile, in another section of the documentary, Paddy got the opportunity to meet another pupil from Sedgefield with autism, Maggie, who highlighted that autism is “misunderstood – people think it’s just bad behaviour”.
Sedgefield Community College got the chance to feature on ‘Our Family and Autism’ after raising £9,500 for 'Walk For Autism' through a 10,000-step challenge within school earlier this year.
The programme was initially filmed in County Durham in July but didn’t air until Wednesday after some other parts of the show featuring doctors, parents and children connected to autism hadn’t been filmed yet.
After being broadcast at 9pm on Wednesday (December 1), Jack and Sedgefield Community College came in for praise from Paddy McGuinness.
During one segment of the show, Paddy plays football with Sunderland fan Jack – and observes that “Jack rolls with having autism – he’s a kid at the end of the day and you forget how resilient kids are,” before going on to say “I hope every school starts to think like Sedgefield because they’re opening kids’ minds to the idea that we all think differently and the next generation will have an idea of autism that mine never did, and that’s encouraging”.
It wasn’t just Paddy that was impressed with the attitude and resilience of Sedgefield Community College, though – it struck a chord with many viewers who were watching the programme live.
Taking to social media, one Twitter user wrote: “Absolutely love that Paddy and Christine McGuinness are showing how kids with autism are so much more than their diagnoses and that an absolutely wicked sense of humour is often part of the package! Jack is an absolute legend!”
Following the success of the ‘My Family and Autism’ documentary, The Northern Echo caught up with Jack and special educational needs coordinator at Sedgefield Community College, Amy McGowan, to talk about autism and what it means to the pair to get discussions started about autism.
For Jack, the feeling of wanting fellow autistic children to go through their life at school “bully-free” and “happy” shines through – with the year eight schoolboy revealing that he was a mix of “nerves and excitement” during filming for the TV piece.
He said: “It felt like an absolute dream to watch the TV on Wednesday with my family – I was nervous when the camera crew came to school, but I was proud of how the programme turned out.
“Every kid that gets diagnosed, I don’t want them to be bullied – I want them to be happy and enjoy their life. I’m living the dream and feel pretty confident with who I am – the experience was surreal.”
Mrs McGowan added: “Jack is an amazing kid and a great advocate for autism. I think what came through in the documentary is that here at Sedgefield, it’s raw and open, and we’re a mainstream school that just wants to raise awareness. We’re just here trying our best to understand the children we support.
“To think that everything started because of a 10,000-step challenge is amazing to think, and we’ll continue to push for support for our SEND children.”
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