Case Study: Best Buddies

“Work to view my autism as a different ability rather than a disability. Look past what you may see as limitations and see the gifts autism has given me…Be my advocate, be my friend, and we’ll see just how far we can go” –Ellen Botbohm, author of Ten Things Every Child with Autism Wishes You Knew.

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.

Autism Spectrum Disorder. ASD. Autism. When people hear any of these, it’s either “avoid that person at all costs”, “be super sympathetic”, “pretend to be their friend” or “I have no idea what that is”. My best friend and illustrator of my second book, has no idea what autism is. I tried explaining it to her. It’s very hard to explain how you feel, first of all. To put the fact that you are autistic makes it even more difficult. It doesn’t bother me too much that she doesn’t know. As long as she knows that I truly am a good person, we’re good.

When reading the first chapter of Ten Things Every Child with Autism wishes you Knew by Ellen Notbohm, multiple thoughts ran through my head. I honestly feel that she did an excellent job expressing the thoughts about autism. In my point of view autism is so much more than a diagnosis. Two important people in my life have autism and honestly, they are the most amazing individuals I have ever met. The authors words that brought tears to my eyes was, “My autism is part of who I am, not all of who I am” (Notbohm 17). This statement moved me, because individuals with autism are so much more than a label. Individuals that have autism are talented, intelligent, caring, kind, and funny. We should not judge or treat an individual different by the way they express themselves. Each individual is unique and should be able to express themselves in their personal way instead of being labeled in a negative way. I have personally encounter individuals use words such as, “that autistic boy” or “just leave him other there, he doesn’t understand the material because he is autistic”. When I hear people says these negative things, it makes me angry and sad, because I believe that they have not fully comprehended the diagnosis as well as not allow themselves to get to know

Have you ever felt discriminated against what makes you unique? America is a country that has so many unique qualities, yet those who show their uniqueness get discriminated. A recent speaker, Carina Morillo, spoke on how to understand the people who are diagnosed with autism was by looking them in the eye or in other words, don’t look away from them. With the years to come, the cases of Autism will continue to increase to explain those who don’t fit in our society. Even with all the statistics, the autism disorder discrimination continues to grow. Thankfully, we live in generation where the world is one click away, making it easier to broadcast our thoughts and opinions. With technology, it was an easier way to communicate with family members or with people who were also diagnosed with autism. The media is a great way to combat this issue because we can share personal stories, spread awareness, and reach thousands of people while doing so.

Curious about the kind of support available to 64 million Americans living with disabilities, I decided to explore this cause and community. I applied and was accepted as an AFK program mentor. Soon, I was working with Michael, a 13-year-old, who was nothing like my preconception of someone with autism. Over the next two years, we met nearly every week, played

Mental illnesses have been changing how Americans view one another. A major disability that wrecks havoc on citizens and their viewpoints is the list of disorders under the autism spectrum. Many styles of aid are available to these people, most beginning with younger, school age children. However, the question stands whether they actually need all the assistance being thrown at them. While students diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) or Asperger’s Syndrome (AS) should be given the help they need to flourish, their needs are different from others with special needs. Furthermore, while their grades are likely maintain a decently high average, they may not manage all too well socially.

The ability to express your feelings seems effortless for teenagers with the existence of "tweeting", blogging, and updating a Facebook status, but for those with autism it is demanding. Loud noises, accidental touches and even an indifferent expression may send an autistic child into a nerve-wracking state. My best friend is autistic; however, I never saw him as different. I am always there for him whether it is on the sidelines for the Special Olympics or whenever he is having a bad day. I am his cheerleader, just as he is mine. I have always been inspired by him to make the world a better place. Seeing him compete in the Special Olympics with his peers inspires others who might not fit in to find a place. There is a home for everybody and little did I know I was about to find mine.

Did you know that one in very sixty-eight children is diagnosed with autism? Many Americans do not know that much about autism or its effects and challenges that come with it. What is autism anyways? Autism is a neurological disorder that affects one’s ability to communicate with others, respond to stimuli in an appropriate way, or build relationships (Barnes,2015). Temple Grandin was just two years old when she was diagnosed with autism. Temple has faced, and will continue to face many barriers in her life with this disorder, but has overcome many of them. She has used her abilities and her different perspective to accomplish amazing things.

With the new changes in language for the Autism CARES Act, some are content with how these changes will affect the autism community. The reauthorization of the CAA means that they are still seeking out answers, providing families with educational support, and developing early protection procedures. This policy is important to them, their friends or loved ones, and others with autism because “it continues to shine a light on the need for more research and better education, along with the monitoring of services and funding” (Tobik, 2014). As Amy Tobik goes on to say, “Families need to know that they are supported by their community and by their government and that we are fighting right alongside them to get them the services

The devolvement of social isolation in children with autism. This has become a very open topic in thus new age society, living in a generation that everything has to be given or made available right here and right now. Knowing that this new generation is all about social acceptance we often have to take the time to ask the question, where does the children with disabilities fit in this social media raven? How do we as their peers make them feel accepted? It is most evident that we as people frown down upon people that may be different from what we are used to seeing. Autism is a mental disorder that include limited social abilities and highly patterned behavior. Just knowing that little piece of information we can or will make our own assumption that people with autism are not capable of talking, playing or even learning the things that a normal peer their age would or could learn.

Starting my freshman year I joined Project Unify and began volunteering at the Special Olympics, working with intellectually disabled students to promote love and friendship through sports while also connecting them to the community. As a part of Project Unify, I was able to assist in encouraging inclusion and acceptance of students with intellectual disabilities in my school and the local area. I became an advocate for students with intellectual disabilities, reaching out to my peers to illustrate that they are not different than us and that the only divide that exists between us and them is one we create. We had campaigns throughout the school such as “Spread the Word to End the Word” to stop the hurtful use of the r-word. I took part in

One of the main aspects of this movie is how these people with Asperger’s Syndrome and Autism deal with relationships. The support group was formed by Donald because he had no friends and no social life. The people in the group enjoy being around people like them and who are accepting of their eccentricities.This illustrated how difficult it must be to not only have a disability, but one in which there is such difficulty in understanding other people and relating to them. I work at Reedley College, and I have often seen groups of students from our Workability III program spending time together during lunch, or in the same campus club. I think they seek each other out because they have experienced similar issues with social acceptance, and because they feel they can be themselves without feeling uncomfortable. The message conveyed about friendship was both positive and negative. People with disabilities seek friends and emotional support just like everyone else. The positive message is they found each other to provide that support. The negative aspect is they had to seek each other for that

Imagine what it would be like to try to teach social-communicative skills to a group of autistic teenagers who can often be uncooperative and stubborn, lack appropriate verbal and nonverbal communication, and have cognitive impairments that limit their ability to process information. As a twenty-year-old female college student, studying communication, I volunteered to be a peer buddy and a facilitator for a small group of teenage boys and girls, in a social skills training group for autistic teenagers called Peer Buddies. Without prior experience or knowledge in dealing with autistic spectrum disorder, figuring out a way to balance my accommodative strategies to both suit, yet expand each of these teenager’s existing

Students with autism have difficulties expressing these feelings because of the limited exposure to forms of communication at a young age. Also, the unwillingness to change is a sad reality that students with autism handle throughout the years of growing up. No matter how much they would want to accept their disorder, there is always hope for an easier life. The struggles of autism vary between the severity of each case, but the movement towards each student’s fullest potential has to start at a young age.