Today (April 2nd) is Autism Awareness Day and it's something that's been on my mind and in my work rotation for several months now. Truthfully, autism has been in my life a lot longer than that. You see, my (almost 13-year-old) son has a form of autism called PDD-NOS. What the initials stand for doesn't really matter, what it means for him is that he has trouble understanding social cues, both verbal and visual and thinks in very literal, black & white terms. His brain is literally wired differently than most people's and this makes the way he sees things, understands things and learns things different from most of us. He has to study how to interpret facial expressions, body language and secondary meanings of words. He has to learn social language like taking a class in a foreign language would be for most of us. Sights, sounds and smells can often overwhelm him and he might have a meltdown.
This does not change how he feels about things. He is extremely sensitive in fact and most of the time wants nothing more than to help other people. He gets such self-satisfaction from doing good. (I wish I could be more like him in that way) But, just like everyone else, kids making fun of him and excluding him hurts him, adults ignoring him hurts him, he's not unintelligent (in fact, he's smarter on scale than about 65% of us in the general population) but he's slow on the sarcasm side and doesn't quite "get it" like most young teens. He does "get" when others are being mean, however.
I love him with all of my heart and realizing that this is a permanent, life-long condition that same heart aches for him knowing the pain he'll endure as he faces the challenges life has ahead for him. The more people know about Autism Spectrum Disorders, the more they will accept his differences and appreciate his unique view of the world, what he has to offer all of us. If you don't already know someone with, or affected by autism - the CDC released new figures last week that 1 of every 88 children in the U.S. has some form of the disorder. You will know someone soon. It's statistically impossible not to.
I created a local resource page on Facebook for this event and hope to keep it updated with information and opportunities that people with autism and their families and friends can use. We've encouraged people to wear blue today, light a blue bulb in their home or business, but most importantly to talk to their friends, co-workers and kids about autism and what it means for the people who have these conditions. They're really very cool people with perspectives on society and life that could benefit all of us in the rat-race.
In case you're interested: www.facebook.com/AutismAwarenessAberdeen
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