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IRELAND INTERNATIONAL James McClean has revealed he has been diagnosed with autism.
The 33-year-old winger, who featured off the bench for Ireland against France in last night’s Euro 2024 qualifier at the Aviva Stadium, explained on Instagram that he was going public with the news to inspire his daughter Willow-Ivy and show that the diagnosis is not a barrier towards high achievement in life.
The Wigan star’s news also coincided with Autism Awareness Week.
“As you all know, my daughter Willow-Ivy is autistic,” McClean wrote. “The last 4 years have been life changing in the most amazing way but also very difficult at times as her daddy watching her overcome so many obstacles in her life and learning how to manage the challenges she faces on a daily basis.
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“The more Erin [McClean's wife] and I learned about autism the more we began to recognise I was very similar to Willow in more ways than we thought.
“I see so many small traits in her that I see in myself. So I decided to go and get an ASD assessment.
“It’s been a bit of a journey and now having a diagnosis I feel it’s time to share it, for the week that’s in it.
“I have debated for a while going public in sharing this as I’ve done this for Willow-Ivy, to let her know that I understand and that being autistic won’t and should never hold her back from reaching her goals and dreams. Daddy’s girl.”
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Well I suppose he’s been acting like he’s on the front line for a while now with the constant wearing of the fatigues so why not get an Oscar. Congrats
@JedBartlett: To be fair, while there’s certainly an element of optics around his battle fatigues, if I was Russia’s No. 1 target and could have missiles dropped on me at any moment, I know I’d prefer to have boots and cargopants on instead of loafers and shirt/tie combo. Loafers aren’t known for their rubble climbing abilities.
Does this remind anyone of the 2004 film “Team America, World Police”? but worryingly this time it’s not puppet actors getting involved but a real one.
Was wondering as I was reading the article a few minutes ago, how long it would have taken the Russian bots to turn up saying how much Zelensky deserved the award….turns out it was almost immediately, almost as if they were waiting for the article….they must have been up all night trying to compose their comments.
“If I know this is here with you, then I will feel better and stronger for the fight.” Says one man to another who will never join a front line while handing him an Oscar. Never being mind forced to go to the front line to fight others that have been forced there too.
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