It was 11.30 in the morning and the Charlestown Square shopping centre was bustling with activity when Sharnae Furner arrived for her first date with Jimmy Berresford back in November, 2017.
Nervous but excited, Sharnae had spent the morning trying on different outfits and rehearsing things to say. She was also 30 minutes early. Having brought her mum, Gayle, for support, the duo sat to enjoy a hot chocolate in the cinema cafe while passing the time. Scanning the faces of other cinemagoers in the foyer, Sharnae spotted Jimmy – also anxiously arriving half an hour early – at the top of the stairs.
In any other situation you’d assume that the pair would have taken the initiative to start the date early. But for Jimmy and Sharnae, who are both on the autism spectrum, the thought simply never occurred to them.“I was going to arrive on time,” Jimmy states of why he stayed where he was until 12 noon.
Later, as they took their seats in the cinema, the young couple grasped hands across the armrest; a position they held for the entire film, despite the pins and needles and numb arms.
“I’d never been on a date before; I thought that’s just what you do. I thought it was normal,” Sharnae says, before confessing that they also shared their first kiss later that evening. It turned out to be the start of a beautiful love story.
Viewers of ABC’s Love on the Spectrum, an acclaimed docuseries following a group of young people as they search for love and navigate romantic relationships, were first introduced to Jimmy and Sharnae back in 2019.
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