Sunday, December 18, 2011

Accepting Autism

Yesterday, I posted a video about Adults with Autism that the wonderful people over at Rethinking Autism made.  It isn't new, but seems to not have been circulated as much as I wish it were.  We really do need to rethink autism. We need to rethink how we think about it, how we talk about it, how we feel about it, how we treat it, whether we treat it, and so on.  We need a discussion that is frank, open and really holds people with dismal opinions accountable for these opinions, these half truths, these myths they spread to scrutiny.  We need people to think about what they say and how these things affect those on the autism community.  So many times,I think people think that the mother on the pity potty about how hard it is to manage autism, how vaccines stole their baby, how they cling to false hope that their child will miraculously recover, on and on... but we don't challenge her.  It's her opinion, we say.  It's her right to believe it, we say, but what about autistic rights?  What about the right to be considered a full fledged human being with with a full experience of life just like anyone else?  Their kids will be adults one day.  They will still be autistic. You don't recover/cure from neurological differences.  The stigma they stick their kids with today, will be their kid's burden to carry tomorrow.  When I wrote about how I value my son Beans just the way he is and how those we associate with seem to see his potential as well.  So, today in this post I'd like to share another video from Rethinking Autism:


  1. This is fabulous! Thank you!

  2. So beautiful. I am sharing that!

    When I tell people I am an Aspie, they give me that look that says, "But you can't be..." And I have to go through my explanation speech that all autism looks different and not all of us are "obvious." Ads like this are SO HELPFUL.

  3. I don't tell too many people, but I always feel like they're giving me that look, too. Not sure if they are, or if it's just me being hypersensitive.
    Thanks for stopping by and commenting. I appreciate it!

  4. Thank you for sharing this! I will share it too.

  5. This is great! Thanks for posting.

    We are not invisible, we are people too!!!

  6. Thanks for stopping by Karen, and Ictus75. I appreciate the feedback and the spreading of positive autism awareness!

  7. I can see both sides of this coin. Parents are thrown into a world of chaos when their child is diagnosed. Professionals and internet searches yield scary and hopeless accounts of those with autism. The internet in particular espouses hours of intervention and a myriad of therapies as the answer to autism. Myself, I was told by our pediatrician that I should concentrate on my daughter because my son would not amount to much. Parents have little options in this scenario. After a decade of living the journey of researching autism after my son was diagnosed at 3 years old I am convinced that his brain just functions differently. Not better or worse. Just differently. The wider community would have us believe that it is broken. This is where the education has to take place and it starts with the professionals. Doctors, psychologists, speech therapists, occupational therapists, teachers and all associated fields of "support." These campaigns need to be directed there first.. as parents first point of contact with regards to how autism is viewed starts there.

    1. I agree. I find it upsetting that some clinicians will diagnose, then send the parents off with little info about what to do next, or worse... with an awful, outdated scenario of what autism is.

      Being an aspie (though I was unaware at the time) I had already been well researched about what autism was by the time I got to the developmental ped. that diagnosed my boys. When I get concerned about something I do what I do best, and that's learn about it. The more I know the better equipped I feel to deal with the situation. I was doing well at first until I came across Autism Speaks, Autism Everyday video. That's when I got upset. It wasn't ever the diagnosis, it's what the world told me that the diagnosis meant. My life didn't look like the lives portrayed in the video, but I thought it was only a matter of time, and that I was doomed to misery, as they were. We need more campaigns that catch parents of newly diagnosed kids in a positive way.

    2. I certainly didn't despair like those women. I felt incredibly guilty for not doing a million hours intervention needed according the internet and we had very difficult times in his early years with incredible sensory issues but my attitude was vastly more hopeful than what was portrayed in the Autism Speaks video.
      I totally agree. We need to give parents of newly diagnosed kids something positive !! I'm not sure that the video above is as positive as it can be but at least it sends the right message about what autism is.

