April is "Autism Awareness Month". What are your personal experiences with this condition?

Question

http://www.autismspeaks.org/


Thank you for sharing, and have a wonderful day! :)

http://www.autism-society.org/site/PageServer

I'm not American, and don't support or have any kind of connection with these sites. My only intention with this question is to raise awareness about autism.

Answer 1

Dear MoonRiver,

[There is too much for me to relate here, so I will use a more general and poetic answer instead.]

It was a long journey for me to emerge from autism and discover the joy and meaning of living on Earth as a human being.

It was a long journey for me to find peace and love within myself, so that I may find these in the world beyond too.

And while I have known the ills and ugliness in the world, I see and accept them within myself, seeing that there are parts of me who are likewise.

To me, autism is not merely a disorder. It is the opportunity for me to understand and appreciate the human condition with greater clarity and understanding.


Without autism, I would be asleep to all these wonders, taking them for granted.

Hence, it is part of my work to use my experiences to help and inspire other people. It is part of my work for people to see themselves in each other, and come to accept and love these parts of them.

God bless autism.

Answer 2

Years ago, when I was living in California in a ground floor apartment, there was a little girl who lived upstairs (over my head) who used to throw temper tantrums and pound her heels on the floor (my ceiling). She lived there with her unmarried mother and her uncle and her grandparents. One day I was waiting at a bus stop when the grandmother, mother and daughter came buy in their car and offered me a ride home. This surprised me because we had not been friendly, owing to my complaints about the amount of noise the child made, and also the uncle's loud stereo.

Grandma and mother told me that the child now had a diagnosis of autism, and seemed to be proud of it. They also said they were sending her to a special school and getting some other government benefits as a result of this diagnosis. All I saw was a totally undisciplined child.

This is what many people learn about autism: the children are brats, they are noisy and undisciplined, they make messes and break things, etc. I always figured the mother and grandmother had nothing to brag about, although I admitted the child was a pretty little thing.

It was only later, in a Time magazine article, that I Iearned autism is often a catch-all diagnosis meaning "There's something wrong with this child." To this day I do not know whether the child was normal but undisciplined, or whether the diagnosis of autism was a reasonable one. Or perhaps that autism is sometimes caused by parents who are clueless about how to teach a child good behavior and polite manners.

So when you ask about my personal experience, it has been unfortunate. I wanted to make friends with the little girl, because she was pretty and seemed intelligent. But it was not possible while living downstairs from her in a flimsy apartment building.

Answer 3

My personal experience is running into countless people like you who think Autism Speaks is beneficial in any way for autistics. Have you ever noticed they have absolutely no autistic people on their board or involved with any leadership of the organization?

Their stated goal is to prevent autism which will be realized when a prenatal test (which they are funding by the millions) is developed. Just like with Downs, the hysterical masses will choose to terminate their pregnancies without knowing anything about autism. Autism Speaks does an excellent job scaremongering already. Most people don't know a damn thing about autism but they're terrified their children may become autistic thanks to groups like this.

Maybe if they showed one shred of respect to autistic persons instead of parading them out to the public in the worst possible light to raise more cash, they would have more support from parents like me. Fortunately more parents are finding out what they're all about and seeing them for what they are. Their pursuit of eugneics hardly differs from the attitudes of the Nazi party regarding disabled persons. It's disgusting.

Answer 4

What does having an autistic child in the home mean?

It means you learn to have in-depth conversations about characters in his video games. They seem more real to him than you do. It is also an excellent tool to teach bad from good.

It means that you learn that his emotions are at one end of the scale or the other. He is either very, very happy or very, very sad (complete with tears). There is no middle ground.

It means that you learn to accept unfinished potty training at times. When he gets involved in something he forgets.

It means that you learn what pill rolling and circling are. You teach him—sometimes harshly—when this is acceptable and when it isn’t.

It means you learn to value the hugs and kisses. Autistic children are so overwhelmed by outside stimuli that they are very hesitant to have contact. I read somewhere once that autistic children see, hear and feel every stimulus in their environment all at once. I know I can ask my grandson a question and I have to be very specific. Generalizations don’t work well with him.

It means that schedules are very important. Autistic children need to feel like they are in control of the situation. The only way they can do it is by controlling that which they can.

It means that I am blessed. He is God’s workmanship and God allowed this for a reason. All I am responsible for with the grandson is to love him.