Autism Awareness
The month of April is Autism Awareness month so I wanted to share some information about it with you. Did you know that people on the autism spectrum struggle with things in life like most of us do? Did you know that they also just want to be accepted for who they are like many of us do?
Individuals on the autism spectrum have different challenges just like many of us do so we need to have compassion and understanding. They are not strange or stupid. They are people who need people like us to learn about them and have patience. Our society has come a long way but we still need to work on it. We as a society need to see that the way we are expected to be, will not work for everyone. The so called simple rules that we live by might not be understood completely by someone with autism.
So patience and compassion is needed to be learned along with understanding some of the signs that autistic people have. Some reactions that an autistic individual might have because they are scared could alarm us unless we know what to look for. Knowledge is the key to many things and that does include the behavior of people. I am happy to know that some training is already being done within some law enforcements so that they can better serve an autistic person when in a crisis.
In the past I have had the pleasure of knowing a couple of people on the spectrum and they were just like you and I but had different needs. The one young man could speak very well but preferred to keep to himself. He would respond when asked something but that was it. He also did the chores that he was expected to do but would rather play video games. Much like you and I, he did what he enjoyed most but he did not understand the need for chores like many of us do.
Because many autistic people struggle with the understanding of how they feel, being in a social setting can be very challenging for them. I personally understand how I feel much of the time but still find some social gatherings very scary. With autism, it again depends on the individual. Some might shut down and shy away from a group of people while another might focus on one close person in order to get through the ordeal. And while some of us might quietly chant to ourselves in a difficult social setting, an autistic individual might do repetitive hand movements such as hand flapping in order to cope.
One autistic child or adult might be very vocal while others might not say a word. Some might learn sign language while another’s might draw pictures. One vocal individual might only do grunts and sounds while another will say clear words and sentences. Just like many of us, as individuals they have their differences. We have our likes and dislikes and know how to express that. But the individuals on the spectrum may not always know how to express that. Again, we need to learn and have patience. We need to learn from them and see the person they are or want to be.
If you would like some more information on Autism, here is a link to read more about it.
https://autismsociety.org/