BILLY Bodin is hoping to spread awareness of autism through his young son, who was diagnosed in the last year.

The Oxford United attacker wants people to have a better understanding of autism, and that it has a full spectrum.

The National Autistic Society website states that more than one in 100 people are on the autism spectrum, while there are about 700,000 autistic adults and children in the UK.

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To coincide with World Autism Awareness Day, which was yesterday, Bodin gave an honest and open interview, while also discussing his dad’s recovery from prostate cancer.

The 32-year-old said of his son: “The actual diagnosis was less than a year ago, but we’ve probably known for about a year and a half.

“Once we found out he might have autism, and knew a lot of the traits, my girlfriend said she used to do similar things when she was younger.

“She went for a few tests and found out that she had autism as well. The main thing we want to do is spread awareness.

“There are a lot of kids that struggle with autism. We feared the worst when you don’t know anything about it, but people can lead a normal life with autism.”

Bodin added: “I’ll hold my hands up, I didn’t have a clue before my son came along. In public, you might get dirty looks or the odd comment, and it would be nice if people did a lot more research.

“If people got a better understanding and were less judgemental, with the amount of times where we’ve gone out for food or been at the airport, and my son might be jumping on the spot, which is something that calms him a bit more back to normality.”

Meanwhile, Bodin’s dad, the former Wales international Paul, has recently had successful surgery following a diagnosis of prostate cancer.

U’s midfielder Bodin said: “He was diagnosed with prostate cancer in October, and went in for his operation to try and remove everything.

“He had a few weeks to recover, and went three or four weeks later for his check-up, and thankfully there was nothing there.

“They managed to cut everything out, and fingers crossed, that’ll be it now. He’s on the mend and hopefully that will be it.”

Bodin added: “He’s quite a positive person and didn’t show too much emotion when he was telling the family.

“He’s quite an old school man and doesn’t show too much emotion, but thankfully he’s had the operation and hopefully everything is all good.

“If it just helps one person get a test and it stops it from spreading any further, then it’s a job done.”