Paddy McGuinness believes one of the toughest experiences for parents of autistic children is waiting for a diagnosis, which can take years.
Paddy McGuinness calls for faster diagnoses for autistic children
The 48-year-old comedian has three autistic children - eight-year old twins Penelope and Leo, and daughter Felicity, five - with his model wife Christine, 33, and they are hoping children will start to be seen "faster" in the near future to speed up the process of being diagnosed with autism.
Speaking to Radio Times magazine, he said: “One of the hardest things for parents is waiting for a diagnosis. At least then you can find out what triggers your children.
“I don’t want to go into too much detail about my children, but Penelope, for example, 'masks’, does her best to fit in with her surroundings and not draw attention to herself.
“Christine and I are constantly on call, making sure the children are kept calm and happy as much as possible.
“But in some areas of the UK, waiting for a diagnosis doesn’t take weeks or months, but years. It needs to change. People need to be seen much faster.”
The 'Top Gear' host and his model wife are to star in a documentary about autism to raise awareness, but Paddy admitted he previously had reservations about appearing in “such a personal" film, and it wasn’t until he started home schooling his children during lockdown that he wanted to participate.
He said: “Our children regressed and that made me think of families that might be in a similar or worse situation than ours.
“I was struggling, so I thought if we made the documentary, other families might not feel so lonely or isolated.”
Paddy said things are slowly changing as men are opening up and talking about their feelings more and more.
He said: “Men have traditionally struggled to open up more. We are seen as hunter gatherers whose obligation is never to be upset or weak. Even among our peers.
“But I still see the guys that I used to work with and they actually wonder how they are doing in a loving way. I’m talking about hairy builders. Mens men. Things are slowly changing.”
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