Autism Spectrum Disorder Fact Sheet

Understand how autistic spectrum conditions can impact on the lives of individuals and those around them.

      Autism is a disability that can create a barrier between the individual and his or her friends, family, and community. This disability often interferes with an individual’s ability to communicate, interact with others, engage in play or leisure skills, and to relate to the world around them. People with autism may exhibit repetitive movements, have unusual responses to people, be resistant to change and demonstrate aggressive and/or self-injurious behavior.

Many of us have heard about Autism, also knows as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Some have a family member, a friend, or know someone who has ASD. Increasingly it is becoming a more common disability. “Autism is one of the fastest-growing developmental disorders in the U.S” (Autism Speaks). Autism has no respect for gender, race, social class and or ethnicity. “Autism is a pervasive developmental disorder that involves abnormal development and function of the brain.” (Autism Center of Excellence) People who have autism have a lot of difficulties with social skills, communication and also will develop behavior issues. These behavior problems of an individual with autism can vary at times and can go from mild to severe. According to the Autism Science Foundation it says,” Many people with the Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) also have unusual ways of learning, paying attention, and reacting to different sensations. The thinking and learning abilities of people with ASD can vary—from gifted to severely challenged.” The causes and symptoms, as well as the diagnosis, and the treatments of autism vary.

ociety often has a misunderstood perception of individuals that carry autism. People infer that these autistic individuals are ignorant or sometimes even refer to them as retarded, they treat them as if they’re completely oblivious to what is actually going on around them, and they put these individuals at a lower ranking than ourselves. People that have this disorder are often mocked or called names. The world looks at them as ignorant, incapable vegetables, when in reality, they’re actually geniuses and masterminds. Autism does not make people that carry it stupid or even retarded, it doesn’t deprive them of intelligence, and it doesn’t make them any dumber than you and I. Carriers of autism usually only lack in their social skills rather than their intellectual skills. Autism is a severe disorder that hinders carriers of it to be able to communicate and socially interact with others

Autism can be a beautiful diagnosis to have, it allows individuals to see, hear, and feel things that most people do not. I have had the pleasure of becoming friends with many people who have been diagnosed with different levels of autism and they are some of the most interesting, caring, and intelligent people who I have encountered. So many people in the world do not have personal experience or knowledge of this diagnosis. Individuals

Many high functioning autistic individuals are aware that they are “different” from others, and, as a result, often develop depression and anxiety due to constant social rejection, and the inability to fit in with their peers at school or work. Autism can be seen as trivial, and simply a different personality type, or a way to view the world, but their difficulties are shown in the fact that only around 16% of autistic adults are in full time employment in the UK2.

“Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) formerly known as just Autism, is a disorder that affects about 1 in 68 children here in the United States.” (Facts about ASD) This is a pretty high prevalence and the number is continuing to rise. “Autism is a developmental disability that can cause significant impairments in behavioral, communication, and social aspects of everyday life.”(Facts about ASD). The intellectual functioning of individuals with ASD is among one of the biggest of all disabilities. The range can occur from moderate intellectual disabilities all the way up to super genius levels. However, most students function at average intelligence in all academic areas except for reading and math. The reason the name switch form Autism to ASD occurred is that now according to the DSM-V Asperger’s Syndrome and Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS) are now disabilities that fall into the spectrum that is ASD. Diagnosis of Autism can be determined at age 2 with high reliability, but is not often discovered until the individual reaches school age and begins to fall behind their peers. It is critical that a parent goes and gets their child screened for developmental disabilities at the doctor at least every 9 months during their few first years of life, so that if they do have a disability early intervention strategies can be employed. ASD occurs in every racial and ethnic group,

Autism is known as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), and it’s a neurological disorder that affects children at an early age, even at 2 years old. The misconceptions and controversies about the illness have caused a lot of backlash and hate towards the healthcare industry, especially doctors. Over the years, many people have believed and still currently think that vaccinations cause Autism. However, many tests and reports have been analyzed and studied through numerous scientists and they have concluded that this simply isn’t the case and vaccinations do not cause Autism. And this is extremely imperative for parents to understand the misconceptions about the illness and report to health professionals with any questions and concerns.

Autism affects a wide variety of people around the world and the symptoms are as diverse as the people diagnosed. The care of these people normally falls on their relatives. This causes a rift in the relationship between the autistic children and their families due to the special needs of the children. Autism affects all ages and the children do not understand why they are labeled different or how to handle situations. This leads to a strain on the family as well as a multitude of things associated with autism.

It can cause people to have difficulty interacting with other people.The difficulties that Autistic people experience are what causes others to push them off to the side. Society treats non-autistic or disabled people as if they are “normal”, and is discriminating against autistic and disabled individuals. For example, in the summer of 2013, a mother from Ontario wrote a letter to another mother of an autistic boy filled with hateful words complaining about him. She even suggested they should “euthanize the boy”. This just isn’t right. No one has the right to tell parents their child needs to be put down like an ill dog. We can not discriminate and think less of a person with Autism because they are people capable of doing amazing things just like everybody

Autism affects people in many different ways. First, There are multiple levels of Autism Spectrum Disorder. Some people are affected by A.S.D ( Autism Spectrum Disorder) differently. Some have more trouble with understanding than others. “A kid's symptoms could be very mild, severe, or somewhere in the middle. Someone with mild symptoms might need only a little bit of help. But a kid with severe symptoms might need a lot of help with learning and doing everyday stuff” (Source 3). Next, “People with autism may struggle with speaking, expressing their emotions, and understanding the emotions of others. Some people with autism have extreme sensitivities to sound or touch” (Source 2) A.S.D affects everyone differently, no one with A.S.D is exactly the same.

People with autism may have poor verbal skills, poor eye contact and socialization skills, as well as adjusting to and making changes. Temple Grandin provided an example of what it feels like for people with autism to lack social skills. She stated that it’s like “being trapped between windows, unable to communicate through the glass” (p. 20). Temple did not have many friends in school and her peers called her names such as a “tape-recorder” (p. 17) because she constantly repeated things. Grandin also had difficulty when transitioning from high school to college, which was a big change for her.

One of the biggest misunderstanding in today's day is that people judge without knowing what's going on. There are many children in this world that have problems with communicating that makes them seem “abnormal”. Autism is a disease that is developed during the first three years of life in a child. People have stereotypes on autism such as can't do things on their own, autism is an excuse for bad behavior, just being lazy.

There is a lot of research on Autism. Many people do not know what autism is. “Autism spectrum disorder covers a set of developmental disabilities that can cause significant social, communication, and behavioral challenges. People with ASD process information in their brain differently than other people”(Communication Problems in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. 2012). Autism can range in severity and is different with each individual child. Autism affects every race, gender, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups. People may wonder how does this affect communication? Well ASD people tend to live in a world all about them. People with ASD tend to not understand others emotions or understand what is said. ASD can effect a person’s communication

“My little boy now five was diagnosed with autism in August … while we were shopping he threw a tantrum. He was rolling around on the floor, running off, and he hit me twice … people are staring, looking at me with horrible looks and some even laughing.” (Ambitious about Autism). Autism affects 1 in 68 children, it is a very broad disability and everyone on the spectrum is unique. Autism is a mental disorder that affects the way people act in social situations and how they respond to their surroundings. Unawareness of autism is a very prevalent problem in our world, especially to those who experience it firsthand. To be more specific, this lack of knowledge is a problem because it has led to many untrue stereotypes being formed about autism,