Autism is like a puzzle where all the pieces do not fit perfectly, it’s still a puzzle but because it’s not perfect people think it’s broken. Scientist used to think that being autistic was just another form of mental retardation and that autistic people are incapable of doing most tasks. When Amanda Baggs’ video came out scientists realized that they may have been wrong about Autistic people. Baggs’ video was a stepping stone in the right direction for Autism awareness and understanding. In the article The Truth about Autism: Scientists reconsider What They Think They Know, the writer, David Wolman tells Amanda, “I asked one of the world’s leading authorities on autism to check out the video.”(Wolman 693) then he tells her that the expert thinks she had to have a caregiver help her make …show more content…
The apparent percent of autistic people with mental retardation is seventy-five percent. According to Mike Merzenich, in The Truth about Autism: Scientists reconsider What They Think They Know, the idea that seventy-five percent of autistic people are retarded is, “‘incredibly wrong and destructive.’” (qtd in Wolman 695). The main reason people believe all autistic people are retarded is because mental retardation and autism share a lot of traits. That's not accurate, however, having similar traits does not mean you have that disease, cats and dogs have similar traits, but they are not the same animal. People are quick to call names, though, in the article, Is “Autistic” The New “Retarded” by Wendy Baskin, Baskin says, “But why “autistic”? If you’re wanting to refer to someone as mentally slow, unintelligent, or ignorant, why not use those terms instead? Is it so necessary that we need to have a go-to derogatory word at our disposal?” (1). Baskin is asking the question, why? Why have we wrongfully dubbed every mentally slow, unintelligent, or ignorant person as
There are autistic individuals on both ends of the spectrum. Those on the lower end exhibit some of the behaviors associated with “classical autism,” like jitters and cognitive impairment. While others, like myself, are on the other end, still “autistic,” but can mask mild symptoms quite well, and function in society though wearing labels of “odd” or “quirky” with high functioning autism, and some are in the middle. No matter which form of autism an individual has, life is different for that person in more ways than one, both beneficial and challenging.
Autism or autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is shared with a core of other disorders with similar symptoms. The Center for Disease and Control estimates that about 1 in 68 children has been diagnosed with ASD. This means that the chances of this being a reality you face in the future is greater than it seems. There are three main categories of Autism, high functioning, atypical, and classic. Symptoms between all the disorders are relatively the same, being problems with communication and others as well as activities, interests and behaviors defer to how severe they are in a person (GRASU 2015). Classic autism is generally known to be the most severe of the three categories because of the characteristics and symptoms that the individual carries compared to the other types of autism. High functioning autism is a milder type than classic autism, and can also can relate to Asperger’s Syndrome. For people that have high functioning autism, they are very likely to have an average or an above average intelligence. So just because someone may have autism, this does not necessarily mean you are limited to regular learning abilities, however though they will still most likely have the same language delays as classic autism when growing up. The last category is atypical autism which is really similar to classic autism but not quite, the individual will carry the same symptoms of
There are many misconceptions about autism. Some may say it is a form of mental retardation. The truth is autistic people display a broad spectrum of intelligence levels. Many are extremely gifted in certain areas but unable to comprehend
Let’s say you have a box of crayons. It represents ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder), now inside the box you have different colors of crayons. Each color/crayon is a different disorder. The color we want to talk about today is teal, the official color for autism. Stuart Duncan once said, “Autism, like a rainbow, has a bright side and a dark side and even though it can mean rough waters it can be beautiful.” Autism isn’t a label, it’s a diagnoses. People with autism can be just as successful as neurotypical people. People with autism have been the subject of stereotypes and neglect for decades. Only in the last 150 years or so have things started to change. We don’t know what causes autism, but thanks to increased research and awareness we’re making more progress than ever. People with autism face many challenges everyday, autism is a spectrum. It’s not the same for everyone. Due to it being a spectrum it can be hard for people without autism to understand the challenges autistic people face, and how to go about interacting with autistic people. There are lots of autistic people worldwide, it’s time we start making them feel more like people.
There are a lot of people who live with autism, and by the time they are adults, are able to take care of themselves. “My autism is the reason I’m in college and successful. It’s the reason I’m in math and science. It’s the reason I care,” (Jacob Barnett). Jacob is a math and physics prodigy, and he lives with autism. All over the internet there are stories about people with autism living normal, or even extraordinary lives. People who work with them learn to accept their quirks and eventually realize that they can function just as well as anyone else. This is one example of someone who learned how to overcome the issues that autism presents, and go on to be something really special.
Autism-speaks has walk-a-thons for helping raise awareness. One crucial factor and well the backbone of this charity is giving for the finding of the cure. Donate as much money as you can to Autismspeaks.org, every bit counts but before doing that; do you’re research and look into this charity; you’ll find a lot of great information and fact about autism. Autism-speaks has raised money for individuals, families, corporations, and foundations – that combined contributed in excess of $50 million in 2010. People should care about this disease that has infect many young boys and girls because it is a growing disease that has no cure and many young boys and girls are being diagnose everyday. This a untreatable disease. In conclusion, researchers and scientists are dedicated to finding the reason and causes behind autism. They are always trying to transcend their knowledge in the medical world, to try to help these autistic children. New things are being discovered daily. Learning about the subject remains a continuous process. In the future, there will be many new therapies, medications, and alternative medications and treatments hopefully in the next couple of years to help your child. Parents are really the best teacher for their child. Autism has been diagnosed to many children in the last year. Scientists feel there has to be a reason why this illness occurs, especially in
Autism is characterized as a neurodevelopmental disorder that affects social interactions, nonverbal and verbal communication, and restricted and repetitive behavior. On a global scale, autism was estimated to affect 21.7 million people in 2013, and the number continues to rise as time persists. Children are often diagnosed while they are infants, usually in the first two years of life, when parents notice odd behaviors such as assembling toys or stacking of objects. It is not yet well understood how autism occurs, but we do know that autism affects information processing in the brain by changing the way nerve cells and their synapses connect and organize. Autism is one of the three disorders that make up the Autism Spectrum, the second is
Giving a speech in front of classmates. Hugging a best friend after a rough day. Changing up the daily routine at school. These are a few examples of activities most Autistic children consider as their worst nightmare. Even though a child with Autism could be, and probably is, brilliant, they find themselves trapped inside. The Autistic Spectrum Disorder, universally known as Autism, is a disease that causes a child to face mental, physical, and emotional challenges.
Autism is a disorder that I seem to hear more about every day. I hear about it on the television news, in news articles online, and even personal blogs that I read. It seems that everyone has some knowledge of autism and most people know someone personally that it affects. As far as my own personal knowledge and experience of the disorder, I learned it at camp. I have volunteered many years for at Camp Tik-A-Witha. This camp provides a week long session for children with special needs (mental and physical handicaps) called Elizabeth Gwin Session. While volunteering at camp, I have seen children with blindness, Cerebral Palsy, Down syndrome, and autism.
Why hide the truth from the people when the truth is being revealed by itself. Lies have been told to the Americans for centuries now a good example of this has been the connection of autism and vaccines.Vaccines were invented by Edward Jenner, it all started when he transmitted anti genetics into a 13 year old’s body who had small pox. This test was successful the first time and therefore he re-tested the experiment and found out that this is a cure for cowpox. This test was also attempted in by the CDC in which they attempted and cured a sickness but in the process created autism. Autism or also known as autism spectrum disorder is a range of different conditions that are portrayed in many challenged and skills,speech and nonverbal communication. The reason it could be called spectrum is because it reflect a large variety of challenges and strengths. One in sixty eight kids are diagnosed with autism and number have been rising ever since the vaccines for infants came out. People have become aware of the rising numbers of cases of autism. The documentary Vaxxed has been seen as very controversial film because to the CDC says that the vaccination does not cause autism but many other argue that due to the correlation it does cause autism. Many people have stopped giving the infants the MMR vaccines because the documentary makes it evident to the public that the vaccine does cause autism and nothing is being done about it. I believe that the movie should be continued to be
To eliminate bias and hatred against autistic or differently abled children and individuals, it is important to educate the masses about the endless possibilities autistic people are born with.
In today’s world, it is easy to label people based on what society defines as “normal.” Society dictates how we view people on a daily basis and this forces people to view things from a singular perspective. Unfortunately, this single point of view may lead to discrimination against people who are “different.” For example, those with disabilities and other diagnoses are neglected, overlooked, or judged by those who are influenced by that singular perspective. In specific, Autism which is referred to as Autistic Spectrum Disorder, is something that the public has heard before but they do not fully understand or are unaware about its true definition. “According to the Centers for Disease Control’s Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (ADDM), approximately 1 in 68 children have been identified with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)” (CDC, 2016). This increased prevalence is why it is important to continue educating the public about those living with Autism as well as critical for social awareness and for the overall health of the community.
“...perceptions of and attitudes towards autistic people may be largely based on stereotypes” (Wood 132). Usually, people are quick to judge others. If anyone were to see someone different than them, they would be considered weird. Taking this into account, there are many stereotypes of autistic people. Stereotypes that classify autistic people are to have poor social skills, communication, and a lack in empathy. Moreover, being introverted, withdrawn, and highly intelligent are common stereotypes of ASD. According to Australian and British print media (2011), “‘Autistic people are often portrayed as unstable or dangerous”’ (Wood 132). However, many of these stereotypes are inaccurate. Howlin, Goode, Hutton, & Rutter (2009) give us an example of how the stereotype of every autistic individual having a high intelligence is overstated. “‘...it is very difficult to think of an example of a character in a film or television series who is autistic but who does not have some form of intelligence...in reality less than 30% of those who are autistic actually possess such a skill”’(Wood 132). Speaking of films, a college student was called “Rain Man” because he is autistic. Rain Man is a character with autism, in a movie called “Rain Man”. Kerry, the college student, describes how he doesn’t fit the stereotype of being good at math or having poor verbal communication. “Some think people with autism lack social interaction and
Autism is very frustrating when compared to a lot of diseases for the simple fact that it is so confounding as far as its appearance. As a neurological disease, there are so many different kinds of it, and there is so much that goes into the arrival of the disease. Some forms of autism feature sufferers that have an innate talent for a given skill, and others simply act as if they’re comatose. Among all afflictions that exist, few are as frustrating as autism. There are varying forms of the neurological disease, with each individual variation there are respective differences. There are forms of autism where a sufferer has higher mental capacity, whereas others may possess an innate expertise with arithmetic. Aside from just autism, symptoms caused by Asperger’s syndrome are also very common, as it 's a neurological disorder that creates a lot of the same problems. While there are times where the person can have a lot of great traits, other times, they act like a little kid. Autism is very similar in a lot of ways to someone cognitively being stuck in a child’s mind while the rest of the body continues to mature. Aside from the mental and neurological issues, there are other physical deformities and manifestations of the disease that can also arise.
Often media inaccurately depicts autism making us believe that the disease gives children exceptional abilities. Unfortunately, in most cases, it's completely opposite from the truth. Savantism is always the form of autism. Only 10% of autistic kids demonstrate profound and prodigious capacities. Researchers