Visiting professor Chris Packham came back to the University of Lincoln today.
The naturalist and television presenter gave a talk entitled ‘Save our Planet’ and attended Q and As in which he answered questions about his autobiography, ‘Fingers in the Sparkle Jar’, his experience with wildlife growing up and living with Asperger’s Syndrome.
Chris told The Linc: “I am very fortunate to be given a small voice, because I make TV programmes, people will listen to what I say. If I don’t use that voice for positive good, whether it’s campaigning about the environment or asking people to be more accepting of autistic people then I’m not doing what I need to do, I’m not here to make friends, I’m here to make a difference.”
“One of the things that I can do is to constantly talk positively about aspects of autism so that people become more accepting of it and it becomes an everyday fact of everyone’s life that it exists. By working together, all of us, we can have a more profitable existence. Both personally and as a species.”
Chris also spoke about the difficulties he faced while at school and university, he said: “When I was young, I still had that perception that I was the broken one, they were normal and that it was my fault that I couldn’t communicate with them. It’s having the confidence to think that we’re just different, and if I accepted that it would have been so much easier.
The key thing is to be accepting of who you are. You are giving up three years of your life to acquire a degree. It’s a huge commitment to make, so you owe it to yourself to be more confident of who you are when you’re here and to make the most of it.”
Chris Packham has been a visiting professor for the university since 2015 and can be seen on BBC Television on shows such as Springwatch and Autumnwatch.