About ProACT - Mick Rimmington
MA MSc BSc BSc
For the last 20 years Mick has always been passionate about ensuring that people on the autism spectrum receive the right amount of support, have the same opportunities as everybody else and achieve a good quality of life. Here’s what Mick had to say about how his work in the field of autism first began..
“In 2002 I was working for a care agency as a support worker and was working a few shifts at a residential school for young people with ASC in the mid Cheshire area. I was asked to support a young man of around twelve and I found him sitting cross-legged on the floor in his bedroom. I sat next to him, but he did not respond to me, so I said hello and called his name…
…The young man just sat, with a peaceful look on his angelic face, smiling and giggling occasionally as he re-organised the collection of coloured blocks he had between his feet. I tried to talk to him but he either could not or did not want to respond to me. He appeared lost in the multi-coloured 3D shapes he was rotating and ordering…
…Stepping into his world I rotated two of the blocks in the opposite direction. He spun them back and laughed. I disorganised more blocks, and he looked at me and giggled profusely. Then smiling he rocked gently back and forth as he set about re-organising his blocks to exactly the same orientation and spacing that they were before. I jumbled the blocks again and again, each time (amongst fits of laughter) the blocks were returned to the precise arrangement that they were before. We played this game for nearly three hours and my fascination with autism began.”