Born Anxious Supports Tom Henley an Autistic, Common Wealth Gold Champion and the creator of ‘Aspergers in Society’
In his documentary , he highlights outstanding Mental Health statistics in the Autistic community in the new Indie -Film.
Thomas Henley is a 23-year-old Biomedical Sciences honours graduate from the University of Manchester, an autistic Commonwealth Gold Medallist in Taekwondo, and a self-taught online content creator on YouTube and Anchor. In the past 3 years he has been travelling all around the UK to deliver presentations in SEN schools, appear on Radio shows like BBC Radio Manchester and talk with important people within the special needs sector such as Anna Kennedy OBE. His YouTube channel ‘Aspergers Growth’ has over a total of 2,100 subscribers and 182,000 video views. The more recently created ‘Thoughty Autistic Podcast’ has a total of 1,300 listens on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, discounting the listeners that tune into the podcast through his YouTube
My Taekwondo:
In his teenage and early-adulthood Thomas was a decorated Taekwondo athlete, achieving countless medals all over the country, travelling to different countries to win trophies and representing Great Britain at a few important events. With multiple National Gold Medals, he was invited to fight at the Under 21 European championships in Romania. Although he did not receive a medal, he managed surpass his team mates and reach the furthest stage in the GB team. He lost to the eventual gold medalist and went on to be invited to test match days at the GB Taekwondo HQ.
Perhaps Thomas’s greatest achievement is that of his success at the Taekwondo Commonwealth Championships. Fighting a much bigger and heavier opponent from Australia, Thomas secured the heavyweight and light heavyweight gold medal for GB in the most exciting and tense match of the competition. Due to his sporting prowess and tendency to create flashy and exciting fights, Thomas was awarded a the coveted trophy of ‘Best Male Fighter’ in the Commonwealth for his weight category and age.
Film Synopsis:
In this documentary, Thomas explores the different views and experiences of people diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome, and those involved with them. From the decorated Taekwondo instructor, and an experienced special needs expert, to the autistic charity co-founder of Salford autism. Thomas intends to identify the reasons for the outstanding statistics on mental health in autistics, and find some suitable answers that may help in combatting this problem in the future.
The Documentary/Film:
Thomas was diagnosed with Aspergers Syndrome at 10 years-old and remembers vividly the relief and joy that his diagnosis gave him “It was like all the difficulties and misunderstandings about myself and other people were suddenly justified. I felt incredibly empowered and emotional… I finally had a reason why I felt so different”. Thomas eventually undertook the Leadership module in his final year at the university and received the Manchester Leadership Gold Award for his 70+ hours of charity work at a local Taekwondo club where he coached individuals on the spectrum for a few upcoming competitions. Through the module he learned more about his motives, uncovering his own personal values, which were eventually enacted through the creation of the ‘Aspergers In Society’ documentary.
Clocking in a total of ~300 hours, the documentary was undertaken in Thomas’s final year at the University Of Manchester as part of his Science Communication project. The literature review and plan was submitted in the 1st semester, and the film was tirelessly crafted in his last semester. In conjunction with Dr. Emma Gowen and the relevant divisions within the University, this ~40-minute film is sure to attract the attention of many people both on and off the autistic spectrum.
What I want it to achieve
During Thomas’s time on YouTube and his work within the autistic community, he realised just how many people had similar experiences to himself during secondary school. With the mental health of autistic individuals in mind, the possibility of improving the lives of these people was at the forefront of his mind during the making of his documentary. “I push on in life to realise my life goal of inspiring autistic children and adults to push through their own barriers. I want to raise awareness of autism and the toll that traumatic social experiences can have on their mental health. Higher rates of bullying, social isolation, alienation, anxiety disorders and suicidal ideation are some of statistics that fuelled my desire to put this film out. Something just has to be done and these facts have been out of the public eye for too long”.
Conclusion
Thomas hopes that this documentary will bring social change to the UK that he believes is required for autistic people to live normal, happy lives. He hopes to affect the formation of new policies on education in schools, workplaces and universities around autism. The documentary also highlights the lack of psychologists and psychiatrists with a specialism in autism “The problem with mental health services for autistic people is that we work in a completely different way to non-autistic individuals. The autistic experience of emotions, social interactions and mental health are completely different. I was counselled for around 5 years and found nobody who made a significant affect on my mental health. Specialists are often private, fully booked and expensive… this makes it difficult to get help considering the ridiculous amount of unemployment among autistic individuals”.
At the start of his documentary, Thomas had little to no experience with filmmaking, video editing, and audio production. With very little equipment at his disposal he had to pour countless hours into this big endeavour. Surely this film is a testament to the phrase ‘No pain, no gain’. The Life Sciences division’s flexibility in allowing this project, the efforts from Dr. Emma Gowen, and Thomas’s desire to achieve have all contributed to creation of this amazing film.
The documentary teaser is available on the ‘Aspergers Growth’ YouTube channel, but its full release date is yet to be confirmed by the University
Thomas has set his sights on a presenting or journalistic job in the world of media, so be sure to check out his YouTube channel ‘Aspergers Growth’, the ‘Thoughty Auti Podcast’ on Spotify, and his social media pages on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram (@aspergersgrowth).
