World Autism Day awareness writing - feedback please!

Post Reply New Topic

I want to increase people's understanding of autism. On April 2nd, I plan to try to post this on the net and try to get people to read it. I would like your feedback on it! I worry it's too long and people won't bother to read it. If you agree, what do you suggest I cut out? I also worry it's too boring for people to read.

Here is what I plan to post:

Today is World Autism Day. Approximately 1 in every 100 people has an autism spectrum disorder (and I am one of them). However, very little of the population seem to know what autism is!
If 1 in 100 doesn't sound like many, think of how many people you must know, how many people must walk past you every day, how many are at your school/college/workplace.

When I say 'autism', I am talking about all forms of autism. This includes Asperger's Syndrome (the type of autism I have).

When people hear the word autism, they sometimes think:
- autism makes you good at maths
- all autistic people have one amazing talent or ability
- autism is a learning disability (mental retardation)
- autistic people cannot love people
- autism only affects children
These things aren't true!

So, what is autism?
Autism is a complex, lifelong condition affecting the brain. It can be very mild (as it is in my case) or very severe. Everyone with autism is different and their condition affects them in different ways. The things everyone with autism has in common are:

- Difficulty in learning social skills
- Difficulty with empathy - the ability to understand and experience other's emotions
- Difficulty with communication
- Sensory problems such as not being able to filter out background noise, having intense dislikes of particular sensations, everything seeming too bright, not feeling pain

All these things make the world seem strange and overwhelming to people on the autistic spectrum.

Social skills are very complicated, and they're never taught to us like language or science is. You instinctively know to look at someone when they talk to you and look away frequently enough so you are not staring but not so frequently you seem distracted. You know when it's okay to give someone a hug. You know sometimes you should not be straight with people but tell a white lie or be indirect or euphamisitc. These things don't come naturally to autistic people, and they can be difficult to learn.

Communication is also very complicated. Autistic people usually have trouble understanding facial expressions, body language and tone of voice which make up a lot of how people communicate. They also tend to take language very literally.

When trying to commuincate, autistic people may struggle to find the words they need to use and some autistic people are unable to speak at all. Some use voice machines fluently, some only use a few words or signs, and some cannot communicate at all.

Autism has many other features such as strict routines, repetitive odd-looking movments, not understanding own emotions - all sorts of things. Most people with autism also have other disabilities or medical conditions.

No one knows what causes autism. It is thought to have a complex genetic origin. It is NOT caused by the MMR vaccine.

Some people with autism believe that autism is a difference, not a disability or a disorder. Some people believe it's a good thing. Personally, I think it's a disability, but it's the only way I've ever known. It's a part of who I am. I think everyone would benefit from more understanding of the condition.

Thanks for reading, and feel free to ask me anything about autism! If you would like to find out more about autism you can go to http://www.nas.org.uk/ - the website of the National Autistic Society.

Last edited by Kajjie on 28 Mar 2010, 5:34 pm, edited 3 times in total.

I think that we should each write something for Autism Awareness Day. I'll write what's on my mind, when I get home. I don't want people at my clubhouse, looking over my shoulder, when I'm writing my essay.

I think it's good. It's not too long and it's not too wordy. I might write one and post it on Facebook. People there already know that I'm autistic, but not sure if they really know what it is.

I couldn't care less whether 'the people' know about autism or not.

'The people' will always be 'the people' - the same kind of people that supported Hitler and Stalin, that stood by and watched countless atrocities throughout the ages, and did nothing to stop any of it.

'The people' indeed ....

That's good to hear.

The slightly scary bit for me is that I was diagnosed very recently, and so most of my Facebook friends don't know I have an ASD, so I'll be 'coming out' in a way. But I'm hoping that might make this grab their attention!

I think it'd be great if others wrote things on social networking sites - it could potentially get a lot of awareness and understanding

Yes, good idea, we should all write something - maybe about something we have come to understand about Autism...

I am participating in an Autism Awareness walk April 25, Central Massachusetts - if you are in the area, you can participate -- or if you want to support it, you can donate.
http://www.firstgiving.com/teamhugs

I second that emotion. I was all for 'awareness' when first diagnosed, but I have come to see that all 'awareness' does is make us a more visible target for hostility, bigotry and hatred. The haters think Autistic = ret*d and that's all they care to know. They're not going to be bothered to read anything. Those with enough interest to read a paragraph or two won't remember a single sentence and don't really care. They don't have it, so it isn't really important to them.

Nobody gives a damn what you've got - the people you consider friends that you're 'coming out' to will, to your face, say things like "Well, so that's great that you, uh...you've kinda discovered yourself. Autism, huh? Well, we always knew there was sumthin' off about you - heh-heh."

But behind your back, they'll say things like: "Do you believe that? Autism! Lifetime Channel Disease-of-the-week. Oh, pity me, I've suddenly got a disability! There's nothing wrong with that idiot but a pathological need for attention and sympathy. Now they'll go on the public dole and make the rest of us support them. @sshole."

And you will never hear from them again.

As long as the Mental Health Care profession and the Government recognize that its a real disability, I don't care who else knows what.

I have at least some friends who know and don't care and I have hope still that at least a handful of people will read this and think and learn.

There's a lot of negative nancies in here. Don't get discouraged. I came out on Facebook and got a lot of people being supportive. Even my ex, who had been ignoring me even said something really positive. There's been 1 or 2 people that think I don't have it, but haven't been nasty about it.

Since the heart of the condition is social naivete and an inability to read nonverbal signals, how do you know how people are responding, really? Until of course, you happen to overhear what they're saying about you when they don't realize you're listening.

Oh, I don't doubt that they're being supportive to your face. My so-called friends were supportive, too - out loud. But since I told them about my fascinating diagnostic revelation, not one of them will answer an email anymore. Maybe they're afraid they'll catch it.

I was all for creating a whole array of cute merchandising to raise awareness of Autism and Asperger, until it slowly sank into me (with some dismay and much embarrassment), that with the exception of those in my family who have known and observed me for many years, no one else actually believes its possible for an intelligent and articulate adult to have Autism, because Autism is a disease that afflicts ret*d children. They also believe that Autism is caused by vaccines and that by the time Autistic kids become adults, all but the most severely impaired outgrow their symptoms and become normal. Even Public Service Announcements, Local News organizations and the Major News Networks continue to spread these impressions.

If the creators of Big Bang Theory would just come out and call Sheldon an Aspie - that would go a long way (in the US at least) toward raising public awareness of just what Asperger Syndrome is. In fact, I strongly believe that the best public awareness campaign will be the most subtle - one that makes AS interesting and likeable, by introducing the public to sympathetic Aspergian characters. Nobody reads informative brochures on Mental Health Conditions, but everybody watches television. Aspies may not want to be identified with Rainman, but millions of people have seen Dustin Hoffman's portrayal of Raymond Babbit - and most of them liked him. So far, that's the best representation of Autism the general public has ever seen, and the only one they can actually (sort of) understand. Pictures, portraits than generate positive feelings, whether cinematic or on the pages of novels, will reach more people more effectively than a thousand encyclopedia articles. Make 'em laugh, make 'em cry, but don't put them to sleep.

As my ex always said about her Alzheimer's patients: "They may not remember a word you say to them, but they will always remember how you made them feel".

I was hoping if I could get good at autotuning we could make a video that is like the symphony of science with people like Temple Grandin (or however you spell it I apologize) and other Pro-autism public speakers

Like these videos if you have never watched them


[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Cd36WJ79z4[/youtube]

Ebonwinter: That video was really beautiful.

Willard: I'm sorry that people were that way to you but not everyone is like that. I'm not going to start to think that my friends are saying things behind my back and get all paranoid. Probably the youngins (the ones around my age) are like that but I find the ones 10-15 years older a lot more open minded.
I am a lot more socially aware of things than some people are here, but to think my friends doubt I'm autistic because I can talk and do things for myself is something I rather not do. All I can do is educate and hope someone learns something from it. Those people that choose to ignore it or not believe I'm autistic are none of my concern.

I have noticed a lot of Aspies are extremely cynical about NT behaviour, and I think part of that actually comes from the inability to read it. Not all NTs are the same. I don't care if some people don't want to talk to me because I'm autistic. I have friends that know and don't care and I don't feel the need to have loads of friends, and I don't want friends who are stupid enough not to talk to someone just because they're autistic.

As for videos and novels getting more peoples' attention and sticking in their heads more, I did think about that. The problem is that I can't make a creative video (lack of technology and ideas), and writing a more creative thing would either be longer (and I think less people would then be bothered to read it) or less informative. I could tell them my own personal story but then I fear this would lead to them thinking autism is a very mild condition, because it is with me. I have a friend with a severely autistic brother and she hates it when this sort of thing happens. I could think about writing something more creative, it would be trickier. I might ask a friend about this, he probably knows how to get people's attention and stuff. I'd ideally like to write something with humour in it because humour keeps people's attention. I'll think about it.