Stratford magician Angus Baskerville reveals how tricks helped him overcome challenges faced living with ADHD and Asperger's
A MAGICIAN usually never reveals their secrets but Angus Baskerville has gone against convention to share how conjuring up tricks has helped him overcome the challenges faced living with ADHD and Asperger’s.
The 26-year-old, who moved to Stratford from South Africa aged 15, was diagnosed with the disorders in 2011 and he told the Herald at that time he felt like it was “a weight lifted off his shoulders”.
Angus explained how he had struggled throughout childhood with the ability to socialise, concentrate and focus, and that he had no friends and was “bullied horrendously” to the point it left him with next to no self-esteem and problems with his mental health, including suicidal thoughts.
But it was when he discovered a special interest in magic that his life started to turn around.
“The problem with South Africa is the country is behind the times when it comes to ADHD and Asperger’s, so I wasn’t diagnosed until I came back to England,” he said.
“I attended around 15 different schools and lots of people thought I was odd, they labelled me as the naughty and stupid child. However, when everyone discovered I had autism people were able to understand me.
“When I was in South Africa, because I was showing the signs of ADHD, they were able to say I had that but not Asperger’s, so the problems went from bad to worse and it’s important to point out that ADHD can mask autism.”
He continued: “So when I found magic was a special interest of mine, I embraced it and all of a sudden I could sit and focus on learning a new trick for hours and perfecting it. That improved my focus and concentration.
“That then allowed me to get my GCSEs first-time round. My school work improved and my grades shot up. I then had an excuse to socialise and start a conversation with someone.
“For the first time in my life I had friends and that was when I was 18 and 19 years old in sixth-form. By then I could walk into a noisy pub, entertain people with magic and walk out with a cup full of tips.
“I was very sensitive to noise growing up but I could now shut that off, I could forget that I was too scared and I felt like I no longer had to lie to get people to like me. Things massively improved and my self-esteem grew a lot.”
Angus’s magic career began in 2014 after studying at the famous Davenports in London. He gained membership to the Leamington and Warwick Magic Society in 2015 and was then accepted as a member of the prestigious Magic Circle in February 2020 – a particularly proud achievement.
As a professional magician, Angus performs at weddings, private parties and corporate events. He’s also appeared at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the Autism Hero Awards and most recently was asked to perform on the Autism’s Got Talent stage for a third time.
It’s clear that Angus – who has had the honour of performing in front of celebrities such as Patsy Kensit, Frank Bruno, Jasper Carrott and Sir Mo Farah – has not let living with ADHD and Asperger’s deter him forging a successful career and being able to a live a ‘normal’ day-to-day life.
“Magic taught me more than anything that when you have a passion, anything is possible,” he said.
“When you embrace a passion, there is a light at the end of every tunnel, bad news is just good news in disguise, you’re braver and stronger than you seem, you’re smarter than you think you are.
“Because of my passion for magic, I was able to shut off a lot of things I struggled with. I could concentrate and focus better, I could walk up to strangers and ask them if they wanted to see a trick and I could walk into a venue that was really noisy – something that would normally go right through me – and shut it out.
“The more I did that, the more I was able to do it in day-to-day life, so now I don’t need to rely on magic. I am able to socialise with people and I am a lot less sensitive to loud noise but magic helped me do that.
“That’s why I want to encourage people on the spectrum to find their special interest as soon as possible because it will not just help with day-to-day tasks and improving symptoms and self-esteem, but it could also create a career opportunity.”
Alongside his career as a magician, Angus is also looking to drop the taboo around mental health and help with loneliness issues for children by making a difference to their lives, using magic as a medium.
He decided to embark on this path after seeing someone take their own life a few months ago.
“It was so unexpected and so traumatic that I suffered with post-traumatic stress,” he said. “I remember going to bed and having nightmares and I kept replaying what had happened over and over in my head.
“I must have only had an hour’s sleep that night and I remember the next morning I was shaking all over. It did cause severe stress and while that slowly eased off, it triggered an interest in trying to raise more awareness of mental health.”
He added: “The big message I want to get across is to encourage parents to get their children diagnosed. If you come across a teacher that understands your child, don’t take it for granted, the sooner you get help the better.
“When you are on the spectrum and people aren’t aware of it and they think something is wrong with you and think that you’re odd, it’s a first-class ticket to mental health problems.
“That’s what I had and being honest, when I was really struggling with my own mental health I did have suicidal thoughts. It’s always best to double-check your friends are OK.
“It’s second nature for people to say they’re fine but it’s always worth making sure they’re not struggling with anything.
“The sooner you get diagnosed the sooner you can get the relevant support. Having been there myself, I want to make a difference to other people’s lives.”
