You surely are aware of a supposed disease that is believed by many to have emerged only in roughly these past two decades. What is this said disease being blamed on? Vaccinations. Who is leading the strong movement appealing to the media and the government? You may have guessed that it is the parents of the children who are believed to be afflicted with this disease. It is believed to be a tragedy and something that we must stand up to and defeat. Yet there are a growing number of us who question this very idea of this supposed epidemic. Why? We see these supposedly suffering children in ourselves. Are we dealing with an epidemic here?
Autism, What Is It?
If you do not identify with the autism community, you still probably are aware of some things. When you visualize the word autism, you may see in your mind's eye a person, especially a child, who cannot speak and who is marked by a series of challenging behaviors. This is accurate, as this is the form that some autism takes. But this is far from the whole picture, or the way autism looks like for many children and adults. Before the past two decades, when professions began recognizing autism as a spectrum, autism was diagnosed only in those who were severely affected, nonverbal, and exhibiting challenging behaviors. Today, we are becoming aware that autism actually is a broad spectrum, from those nonverbal individuals who need assistance with basic self-care, to highly successful and accomplished people with Asperger's Syndrome.
Autism As a Disease or A Difference?
In the autism community, there are factions that are often strongly opposed to each other. These consist of parents of children or relatives diagnosed with autism over these past two decades or those with relatives who were diagnosed with autism before then. Most of these people view autism as a tragic, dreadful disease that needs to be eliminated and "cured." That model is behind controversial nonprofits like Autism Speaks and Generation Rescue, which many parents and relatives of autistic children strongly support. There are a growing number of those, mostly adults, who are self-diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), or have been diagnosed after leaving their teens. We recognize autism not as a "tragic disease in need of a cure," but as a neurological disorder that causes differences in how a person thinks and relates to the world, to others, and to himself. Professionals or volunteers who work with those with ASDs may fall on either the "cure" or "celebrate as a difference" side of the controversy. Why can't both camps or factions seem to find any common ground, but continue to war with one another? I find the fighting and factions within the autism community very unfortunate, as this just increases the stigma of autism and keeps us from working together to get what all of us really want for ourselves and our loved ones with ASDs.
My Experience
My own experience of becoming autism aware did not begin until my daughter was diagnosed before she turned three years old. Hannah was diagnosed with Pervasive Development Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS). The diagnosing pediatric neurologist told us, "PDD-NOS is actually a variant of autism, which we now know occurs along a broad spectrum." Since I was aware of the hugely successful Temple Grandin, herself diagnosed with autism as a child and who miraculously "emerged from it," we held onto hope that Hannah would, too. And our daughter, thanks to her proper diagnosis and early intervention, was able to experience modification of her autistic traits. Thanks to God and to the fact that she has no other conditions along with autism, Hannah has always been mainstreamed, with supports. Today, while she still struggles with social problems, she makes good grades in school, exhibits no challenging behaviors, and seems happy overall. Myself, I identified myself as having a possible ASD for years, courtesy of all my many past and present differences that had never been explained. I spent hours and hours seeking qualified, affordable professionals in my area who could screen me as an adult for an ASD. The few professions that could did not accept my insurance, so I could not go with them. Though I was not open to it at first, I made an appointment at an autism center two hours each way and back and forth, from where I live. The only reason for that was because they had one qualified professional at this center which works with low-income families who are unable to pay. After waiting months for the appointment and more months for the results, I finally was able to see my self-diagnosed ASD become officially confirmed. Relief!
How Does Autism Affect Me?
If you do not identify with any part of the autism community, you may wonder how autism affects you. First of all, you probably know someone who has diagnosed or undiagnosed autism. You may not know this because they may not have disclosed their ASD or their relative's ASD. You may have friends or acquaintances with ASDs. ASD people with unmet needs because of lack of affordable autism services, often either withdrawn from society and fail to contribute to it, or may act out and commit crimes that land them in prison. These are the individuals who fall in the over 70 percent of all ASD adults who lack employment, and who use government assistance programs like Supplemental Security Income or Social Security Disability. These are the individuals who may act out by committing sex crimes or violent crimes. Much more often, ASD people fall victim to those crimes because of their inability to read social signals. When the needs of ASD persons go unmet because they are not served, we lose out on the contributions they can be making and the programs they use cost taxpayers millions. The effects of their committing or falling victim to crime costs us in terms of all the resources that must go to processing them through the justice system, especially through jury trials. Above all, it costs them and their families.
What Can We Do?
We all can do something to help the situation with autistic people, as for people with other disabilities. That is true whatever our life circumstances. First of all, we all can and should educate ourselves about autism and other related disabilities. Below, I provide links to a couple of resources and you can do a Google search to find many others. You can also show your support by signing my autism petition, which is run both on Change.org and on SignOn.org. Please take time to sign both; it take little time to make a big difference. If you know any people with ASDs or other disabilities, welcome them, accept them and befriend them. What is it that autistic people and others with other disabilities need from the rest of us?
Please Sign This Autism Petition at Change.org.
Please Sign This Autism Petition at SignOn.org.
National Autistic Society--United States
National Autistic Society--United Kingdom
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