I don't do Autism Awareness.
Yesterday was the beginning of 'Autism Awareness' month and I made a comment on my personal Facebook page that I don't do 'Autism Awareness.' Now, I just want to clarify that it's not a hugely emotional, tantrumming kind of issue for me and I fully respect those who do because quite frankly we all have a right to support and be involved in whatever we want to!!
But I did want to clarify why I have a slightly different opinion, which I might add is shared by many. I'm a wordy, spelling nazi, articulate kind of person so words matter to me. The differences in words may not matter to many, but to me the meaning of words have different interpretations that need to be considered.
There is a whole new debate in the Autistic world in regards to 'Awareness' and 'Acceptance.' Like I said, I'm probably not going so much to get on the band wagon with this one because I'd much prefer that the world becomes aware of Autism as opposed to ignoring it, but I would definitely like the world to lean a little more towards acceptance rather than just awareness.
Awareness of something simply means we are given the facts and we see something for what it is. There's nothing wrong with that but awareness without action is often meaningless. If we become aware of some difficulty in our life, without the tools to act, then we simply stay in a state of anxiety and worry. But once we are not just given information, but tools to change, we find a place of peace and acceptance once again. Autism awareness simply alerts us to the difference out there; autism acceptance not only helps us understand, but gives us the tools to know how to work with people who have these differences.
This debate has come from a company in the UK who started to pave the way in the awareness of Autism which in the beginning excited the autistic community and was well received. But over time many started to investigate this company to really understand their motive and reasons surrounding 'autism awareness' and found that it really did fall short of what autistic people wanted.
I'm not going to name the company, that's pointless and if you want to know more you can easily research. When formulating some of my opinions I actually do do a lot of research and read a lot from both sides of the coin before making my mind up. Okay, so I don't always do this and I'm very strong in some of my opinions and belief's, but I do read a lot and try and gauge what the general opinion of something is. In this case, it turns out that this organization don't have a single autistic person in their organization which initially raised my own alarm bells. How do you know what an autistic person needs if you are not engaging them to understand what they need? And in a nutshell, it also turns out that they are not interested in the opinions of autistic people - but parents of autistic people and what the parents need.
I was also shocked to learn that one of their goals was to find a cure. Their idea is that we need to spread awareness of this debilitating disability, find ways to manage it and ultimately cure it. Now, I'm very limited in to what opinion I can give on the whole idea of 'cure' because I do not live with a child with severe autism and nor will I ever understand what that is like. I have no doubts in my mind that there are many parents who would like nothing more than to see their child 'cured' and live what is seen as a more 'normal' life.
No, I can only talk about my experience with a child with Asperger's and to my dying day I will make my stand that it should not have been put on the one spectrum. Anyone with a child with Asperger's knows that it is quite different to autism, but that argument must be left for another day. But, in my case, with my child with Asperger's, I can honestly say that it horrifies me that they would consider looking for a 'cure.' His uniqueness, intelligence and view of the world is needed as much as non-autistic people's views, talents and view of the world is needed. To say he needs 'curing' means a group of people are decided that something is 'wrong.' That saddens me.
So this takes me to 'Autism Acceptance' which in my mind has a completely different connotation. It takes a much bigger step forward than simply becoming aware of it, to a place where we understand that every human being exists on a spectrum of life with different abilities, talents and capacity to interact and be a part of a larger purpose we call life. Autistic people are no less than this, and in fact it is no secret that many of our most incredible minds, scientists and those who have 'discovered' great things in life, have been autistic. When you really know and understand the autistic mind, you soon see that they are often an untapped resource that I don't think is completely understood.
There are times when my own son comes out with comments that are so far outside the box that I wonder whether he is also an untapped resource that we are yet to understand. From a younger age he has understood why time changes in space because it's not constant and bends. His capacity to think 'outside the square' is yet, I believe, to be understood. I'm not sure we'll see it until he hits high school and beyond. Is this really a 'dis' -ability, as the world might have it, or is it what we've always called it, 'a different ability?'
Don't we all have different abilities? Can any of us truly say we are better than someone else? Isn't that the beauty and excitement of the spectrum of human ability? Even in our own family we are extremely different. As you may have realized, my talent is writing, the English language and so forth (and it's taken me years to admit and be proud of my talents) yet my math is a lot to be desired (but I can always pick a bargain!). My eldest son is a math brain - totally off the chart according to his teacher. But he doesn't like English and it isn't his strength. He's also a brilliant musician - again re-iterated by his music teacher who very quickly saw the natural talent and passion he has for it. See - both my son and I are complimentary because we have such different talents and abilities - and the world needs all of it.
It's no different with autistic and non-autistic people. The world needs all of us. The richness and beauty of life is found its individuals and how we fit together to keep this beautiful world of ours turning. I've always likened life to a beautiful tapestry. The more colors we have the more beautiful it will be. A tapestry of many colors tells great stories and woven together in such intricacy. The colors are separate and each line is individual, yet when we take a step back it gives us a picture. The individual stories of each line all entwine to give us one great story.
So my hope for the autistic world is that we do lean more towards 'acceptance' than stopping at the line of 'awareness.'
Because I believe that the tapestry of life depends on it.
But I did want to clarify why I have a slightly different opinion, which I might add is shared by many. I'm a wordy, spelling nazi, articulate kind of person so words matter to me. The differences in words may not matter to many, but to me the meaning of words have different interpretations that need to be considered.
There is a whole new debate in the Autistic world in regards to 'Awareness' and 'Acceptance.' Like I said, I'm probably not going so much to get on the band wagon with this one because I'd much prefer that the world becomes aware of Autism as opposed to ignoring it, but I would definitely like the world to lean a little more towards acceptance rather than just awareness.
Awareness of something simply means we are given the facts and we see something for what it is. There's nothing wrong with that but awareness without action is often meaningless. If we become aware of some difficulty in our life, without the tools to act, then we simply stay in a state of anxiety and worry. But once we are not just given information, but tools to change, we find a place of peace and acceptance once again. Autism awareness simply alerts us to the difference out there; autism acceptance not only helps us understand, but gives us the tools to know how to work with people who have these differences.
This debate has come from a company in the UK who started to pave the way in the awareness of Autism which in the beginning excited the autistic community and was well received. But over time many started to investigate this company to really understand their motive and reasons surrounding 'autism awareness' and found that it really did fall short of what autistic people wanted.
I'm not going to name the company, that's pointless and if you want to know more you can easily research. When formulating some of my opinions I actually do do a lot of research and read a lot from both sides of the coin before making my mind up. Okay, so I don't always do this and I'm very strong in some of my opinions and belief's, but I do read a lot and try and gauge what the general opinion of something is. In this case, it turns out that this organization don't have a single autistic person in their organization which initially raised my own alarm bells. How do you know what an autistic person needs if you are not engaging them to understand what they need? And in a nutshell, it also turns out that they are not interested in the opinions of autistic people - but parents of autistic people and what the parents need.
I was also shocked to learn that one of their goals was to find a cure. Their idea is that we need to spread awareness of this debilitating disability, find ways to manage it and ultimately cure it. Now, I'm very limited in to what opinion I can give on the whole idea of 'cure' because I do not live with a child with severe autism and nor will I ever understand what that is like. I have no doubts in my mind that there are many parents who would like nothing more than to see their child 'cured' and live what is seen as a more 'normal' life.
No, I can only talk about my experience with a child with Asperger's and to my dying day I will make my stand that it should not have been put on the one spectrum. Anyone with a child with Asperger's knows that it is quite different to autism, but that argument must be left for another day. But, in my case, with my child with Asperger's, I can honestly say that it horrifies me that they would consider looking for a 'cure.' His uniqueness, intelligence and view of the world is needed as much as non-autistic people's views, talents and view of the world is needed. To say he needs 'curing' means a group of people are decided that something is 'wrong.' That saddens me.
So this takes me to 'Autism Acceptance' which in my mind has a completely different connotation. It takes a much bigger step forward than simply becoming aware of it, to a place where we understand that every human being exists on a spectrum of life with different abilities, talents and capacity to interact and be a part of a larger purpose we call life. Autistic people are no less than this, and in fact it is no secret that many of our most incredible minds, scientists and those who have 'discovered' great things in life, have been autistic. When you really know and understand the autistic mind, you soon see that they are often an untapped resource that I don't think is completely understood.
There are times when my own son comes out with comments that are so far outside the box that I wonder whether he is also an untapped resource that we are yet to understand. From a younger age he has understood why time changes in space because it's not constant and bends. His capacity to think 'outside the square' is yet, I believe, to be understood. I'm not sure we'll see it until he hits high school and beyond. Is this really a 'dis' -ability, as the world might have it, or is it what we've always called it, 'a different ability?'
Don't we all have different abilities? Can any of us truly say we are better than someone else? Isn't that the beauty and excitement of the spectrum of human ability? Even in our own family we are extremely different. As you may have realized, my talent is writing, the English language and so forth (and it's taken me years to admit and be proud of my talents) yet my math is a lot to be desired (but I can always pick a bargain!). My eldest son is a math brain - totally off the chart according to his teacher. But he doesn't like English and it isn't his strength. He's also a brilliant musician - again re-iterated by his music teacher who very quickly saw the natural talent and passion he has for it. See - both my son and I are complimentary because we have such different talents and abilities - and the world needs all of it.
It's no different with autistic and non-autistic people. The world needs all of us. The richness and beauty of life is found its individuals and how we fit together to keep this beautiful world of ours turning. I've always likened life to a beautiful tapestry. The more colors we have the more beautiful it will be. A tapestry of many colors tells great stories and woven together in such intricacy. The colors are separate and each line is individual, yet when we take a step back it gives us a picture. The individual stories of each line all entwine to give us one great story.
So my hope for the autistic world is that we do lean more towards 'acceptance' than stopping at the line of 'awareness.'
Because I believe that the tapestry of life depends on it.
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