Today is Autism Awareness Day. Autism is dear to my heart as I worked with Autistic children for ten years. It is important that we raise awareness for this disorder.
Autism is a complex neurobiological disorder that typically lasts throughout a person’s lifetime. It is part of a group of disorders known as autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Please be more tolerant in public of parents of a child with autism. What may seem to be a parent being unresponsive to a tantrum may be an important way to reinforce desired behaviors and ways to communicate.
Cnn news has an encouraging article – Victoria, British Columbia (CNN) — Joseph Sheppard. Mr.Sheppard, 42, has high-functioning autism. He found out only about six years ago, but the diagnosis explained the odd patterns of behavior and speech that he’d struggled with throughout his life. And it gave him the impetus to reinvent himself as an autism advocate.
People with more severe forms of autism may not be able to live independently or hold complex, social jobs. But those considered high-functioning can have a wide range of careers; you may even have a classmate or coworker with high-functioning autism who isn’t as vocal about it as Mr. Sheppard, or who never got a diagnosis.
Being different is OK and having tolerance and love for those who handle life differently than we do makes us a better person and a more humane community.
What are your thoughts…
2 comments
Thank you for helping increase awareness about autism. With two autistic kids, and many clients on the spectrum, we need many voices for acceptance and support! Thank you!
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Claudia, I appreciate your comments and send you all the best to your children. Autistic children can be a handful but also very endearing, I learned a lot (patience, tenderness,looking at things outside the box)from working with these children.