Autism Awareness Month: Introduction
Today is World Autism Awareness Day. In addition, here in the United States, the entire month of April is dedicated to Autism awareness.
When communicating about Autism, the word "awareness" has many facets. This makes complete sense. After all, the word "awareness" means "knowledge or perception of a situation or fact". There are many "facts" and "situations" associated with Autism. In addition, Autism itself has many facets. ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) is called a "spectrum" for a reason. It affects individuals differently.
Four of the biggest pieces of Autism awareness are:
- Causes
- Prevention/Cure
- Treatment
- Accepting and respecting people with Autism
Although each of these topics is incredibly important, I truly only have experience and "expertise" in one of the four.
Because I am not a scientist or medical expert, I do not feel qualified to write about causes, prevention, cures and medical treatment. I am not saying that non-scientists should not help raise awareness about these topics. Laypeople should continue to push for definitive answers to these essential questions. Although I support and donate money to scientists' and medical experts' efforts to help study and cure Autism, I will leave the blog posts about their work to them.
However, I do have experience working with people with Autism every day. I have friends and family members who are on the Autism spectrum. I feel truly lucky to have met so many amazing and wonderful people... who happen to have ASD. My life is better for having known and worked with them.
As a result, over the next month, I would like to write a few pieces about accepting, respecting and celebrating individuals with ASD.
This does not mean that I am ignoring the other facets of the Autism awareness conversation. There will be a plethora of articles discussing causes, prevention, cures, and treatment of Autism. I am unable to add very much to those. But what I can do (I hope) is write some positive pieces about the the less scientific aspects of Autism awareness.
I hope that if I am lucky enough to have people read and comment on my pieces, they understand and take into account my motivations and inspirations for the writing rather than focusing on the lack of scientific information.
Yep, we've got on our blue light for the front porch. I feel it's not so much that people aren't aware that autism exists, but are unaware of what it truly is. This is not classic retardation in the literal sense. It's not Down's Syndrome. It's not any kind of palsy. It's not any of those things. Deep within, people with autism are likely no different than anyone else. The difference comes when you talk about that bridge between the outside world and the person inside. That bridge is our senses, and it's not always constructed in a straight line from A to B. For someone with autism, think of that bridge as a winding path which changes direction suddenly in the middle of a curve, whipping the passengers left to right. It's jarring, it can be scary, and it can just be too much at times. When my 3yr old son gets overwhelmed by his senses, he covers his ears and hums repetitively to himself. That's his method of regulating the sensory overload.
And it's not the same for everyone. There's a saying that goes, "If you've met one person with Autism, you've met one person with Autism." My son's case seems rather mild when compared to some who not only have trouble with sensory input, but also bodily control. Some rock back and forth, some do nothing but hum, chirp, or scream, and even some will harm themselves in an attempt to regulate their overworked senses by hitting themselves in the face or head, or even repetitively hit their head against a hard surface. We're fortunate enough that our son doesn't go to those extremes, and he's probably one of the sweetest little boys you'll ever meet, but we've still got a long row to hoe. At nearly 4 years of age, he's still mostly non-verbal, although he's made large strides in recent weeks/months.
"The difference comes when you talk about that bridge between the outside world and the person inside. That bridge is our senses, and it's not always constructed in a straight line from A to B. " That is a brilliant and beautiful explanation!
I've always thought of it as "wiring" and for some people the "wiring" is different. Not better or worse, just different. I like your description so much better.
"... he's made large strides in recent weeks/months." That is awesome to hear! I can't imagine how happy you are with that porgress.
My nephew took a pretty huge jump verbally a little after age 4. I've always loved the little guy. Being able to communicate with him more has been awesome!
If you get a chance, it would be great if you put this in post form. It would be a very valuable description for people to hear.
Awesome! Thank you!!!!