The Truths And Myths About Austism

“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.

Autism, a developmental disorder is becoming widely diagnosed here in the U.S. and throughout the world affecting children in all different types of backgrounds. From children living in rural or urban, rich or poor. Currently there are many speculations and superstitions as to the causes for developing autism but science has no clear evidence as to why autism affects certain people and not others, autism can greatly affect the families and its patients for their entire lives. Most of you do not know that I have twin younger brothers with Autism. Before this speech, I had no clue what autism really was. Through my research I am now able to relay this information to you. Today I want to talk about Autism. The three things I will be speaking about is what is Autism? How does autism affect the family and how does autism affect people who have it?

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 has been made to seem like this huge issue, something that needs to be stopped. While there are many issues that come with autism, it is not something that should be getting such negative attention. People with autism seem to be the most extraordinary out of any of us. “They are usually intelligent, gifted, honest, hard workers when interested in a task and excellent problem solvers. People with high-functioning autism are thought to become excellent scientists and engineers or enter other professions where painstaking, methodical analysis is required. Some believe this particular assertion is a stereotype, as some high-functioning autism adults tend to struggle with the traditional work setting and the surrounding societally accepted ways of behaving,” (Synapse, Pg 2). There

Autism can be a very challenging experience for any family. Beginning at the diagnosis process, up until adult life, this mental inception is an experience that will break you emotionally and physically at some point. Completely disregarding the things that these families go through would be an atrocity to human compassion. By obeying the “Golden Rule” that we are taught as children will show us that autistic people have a potentially unprecedented level of intelligence. In order to observe this, one needs to push past the mental barriers that are instilled due to their perception of the world.

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

I believe many of us would assume that everyone thinks in the same way as ourselves. We think in words and ideas. We are “verbal thinkers.” However, do you ever thought about people who might think differently than you? Not everyone is a verbal thinker or a conventional thinker. If you don’t have autism, you may have thought those who do are different or maybe even “strange.” In her speech, The world needs all kinds of minds; Temple Grandin, a woman with autism, discusses how people with autism think differently than others. She says that she “thinks in pictures” and that many others with autism also think this way. She also explain how it differs from the conventional sense of thinking. She gives personal experiences throughout her speech. She is able to tell of how she overcame some of the cons that is sometimes associated with autism. Grandin’s main argument is that individuals with autism should be encouraged to branch out and should not be confined where they don’t feel comfortable. They should not be forced to act the same as others but to be who they are. She advocates that they are individuals and they should be treated as such.

Temple Grandin writes in her narrative, Thinking In Pictures, about her own life and experiences with high-functioning Autism. Grandin’s take on her diagnosis is an in-depth description of everything she went through, good and bad. She talks about the troubles and hardships of a woman with Autism, but also the things that she strived in. Along with her own experiences, she also provides helpful strategies for others with autism, and discusses things that were beneficial for her own experience.

I begin this critique of autism depiction in mass media relating my relationship with Connor because he informs my understanding of autism and colors my critique of media

Having a family member with the disorder of Autism has made me question how people can cope with this type of syndrome. As I am continuing my education I have decided to work as a therapist who diagnose and treat such children with disabilities. As I researched books in the psychology section, I was able to find a book that will extend my knowledge in my career and answer my questions of Autism. Author Liane Holiday Willey is a Parkway North, 1977, graduate that has a Doctoral on education (Ed.D). At the age of thirty-five she was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome, and now she is a professor of psycholinguistics, a motivational speaker and a sponsor of therapy programs. As a woman with Asperger’s syndrome, she is dedicating her career to educate people around the globe about the high-functioning autism in woman. Not only did she experience growing up and living with the disorder but also dealing with her youngest daughter

Misconceptions of autism are defined as “ideas about the disorder that are not scientifically proven” (Chatkewits & Losonczy-Marshall, 2014, p. 46). According to Huws and Jones (2010), who carried out semi-structured interviews to explore how people with no prior knowledge or experience of autism conceptualised autism, people with little or no knowledge about the disorder were found to have misbeliefs about autism. Some viewed autism as a “gift” rather than an “affliction” (Huws & Jones, 2010, p. 337), and some believed that people with autism were “extremely clever, with excellent memories” (p. 338). The authors (Huws & Jones, 2010) states that the media’s portrayal of people with autism seem to have had an influence on their perception of

What is autism? Is my child autistic? How do parents deal with this diagnosis? It is without a doubt that the award winning book “Bad Animals: A Father's Accidental Education in Autism”, written by Montreal’s very own Joel Yanofsky, answers these questions using humorous dramatic approaches. If you too want to experience living a life with an autistic child, by all means, you should read this book.

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), it is estimated that one in 68 children are affected with autism spectrum disorder (Baio, 2010). Children diagnosed with this disorder eventually grow into adults who need similar care and attention they required earlier in life. The focus of this paper is the 1988 movie “Rain Man”, a story written by Barry Morrow and Ronald Bass, directed by Berry Levinson, cast played by Dustin Hoffman as Raymond Babbitt “Rain man” and Tom Cruse as brother, Charlie Babbitt. The National Institutes of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (Autism Spectrum Disorder Fact Sheet, 2015) state that autism “refers to a group of complex neurodevelopmental disorders characterized by repetitive and characteristic patterns of behavior and difficulties with social communication”. Savant autism is a rare and extraordinary form of autism characterized by deep, thorough knowledge of one particular subject or area of interest. Our character, Raymond Babbitt, is one of those rare savant autistic individuals.

We may not all think alike, but understanding the differences can be what brings us closer as a society. In Temple’s situation, learning about the mind of someone with autism can help improve the lives of millions of individuals with that limitation in life. Similar to Oliver Sacks’ research on individuals with mental illnesses, Temple’s understanding of how to help those who may not be understood could change how doctors, families, and strangers treat those who may be different. Like Ame ́lie, we must also not forget how to love, for “a woman without love wilts like a flower without sun” (Ame ́lie). The key to having a fulfilling life is to find one’s purpose and never give up on working hard to reach goals. We must all make a life worth

After watching the film Loving Lampposts in class there were three main points that stayed in my mind. Although I previously, had not known much about Autism, and it effects on people’s lives, I did know that it was something that was being increasingly common as of recent times. However, even though I found certain things to be interesting, I also found that I do not agree with creation of a negative view of people who are diagnosed with Autism.