I Am Human , I Am Autistic !!
The other day i saw this little beautiful girl with silk hair and the most expressive hazel eyes i have ever seen. She was fluttering from a group of people to another , hugging complete strangers and dancing in the hallways. Unfortunately this is not the sun-shine and happy topic about childhood you expected from the introduction. I saw this girl in the hospital and she was suffering from autism. She couldn’t speak proper sentences and all she was capable of is screaming shrilly.
What really amazed me is how people were handling her. Instead of support and help , they started shouting at her to stop screaming and push her away when she comes near , even her mother was grapping her and pulling her from place to place. How my heart has bled for her !!
For you who don’t know what autism is or hadn’t seen autistic children , here’s a brief summary about it.
Autism is a group of complex disorder in brain development. The disorder usually show its symptoms by the time the child is of 2 or 3 years old. It affects the child ability to socialize and behave normally due to neurological disability. The autism has another name (autistic spectrum disorder ASD ). This refers to the fact that each person having autism will have a completely different symptoms and behavior than another. Some of these symptoms might be failure in verbal communication , limited interest in any activity , repeating a single word or sentence many times and lack of attention.The cause of such disorder is yet to be discovered but probable theories suggest the late age of conception , maternal illness while pregnant and several genes contribute to autism.
Some people call those children “retarded” , i disagree strongly. Those are children like any other , they just need more care and support while growing up. They don’t need to be locked behind bars or screened from the word , they need to be out like normal kids. While their social and communicative skills are low , all they need a creative and understanding parents to help them and push them toward bigger levels.
Parents with autistic children and their families should learn how to treat them the right way. Even those who dont , should learn in case you were needed to help some of them. Since i am not a psychiatrist , here’s an article to explain further how to handle those special kids.
http://autism.about.com/od/autismhowtos/tp/behavetips.htm
Finally , autism is like any disease we all get. imagine if you are discriminated because you got the flu or you have asthma. Be kind , be considerate and throw prejudges away.
The girl in tight shoe.
The girl in tight shoe 
I agree with your statements fully! People with autism are just like anyone else. They should be able to be out and about and express themselves as they are. I love each and every child I have taught, and especially the ones on the spectrum! The one thing I will say is that many children I have met/worked with have trouble with behaving in public. I don’t mean “screaming shrilly,” although this behavior can be guided as well. But I mean things like putting ones hands down his pants, or grabbing someone by the neck (in a loving way, but scary to strangers nonetheless), or pulling ones pants down before she gets to the restroom. These are behaviors I see a lot in the kids I work with, and often times they’re behaviors parents may not correct or discipline.
I believe that all children need discipline (but not in an aversive way necessarily) and children on the spectrum need to be taught social “rules” both at home and at school because they don’t pick it up like everyone else that is so-called typical. It makes me sad to teach these “rules” at school and see that it’s not being practiced at home. If these kids are not being taught to generalize, they often will be looked at differently and I want to cry for them!
Specifically, I know child who is fully potty trained at school and his parents still use diapers fulltime at home. What is this teaching? Sorry, I didn’t mean to rant on your blog, and if I offended anyone, I am sorry! I know you parents with children on the spectrum have A LOT on your plate and that you love your children to the moon and beyond! I know you want whats best! I’m just sharing how much I care for your children and I want each child to succeed no matter whether he’s typical or exceptional!
.you are very welcome to rant in my blog anytime. it is really nice to find great people like yourself to care about those children.may god bless you and give you more power to help those kids.
i totally agree on your point of discipline , it is needed both at school and home to help them adapt with their environment , it is a waste of effort if the discipline are ignored at home.
Thats the problem with people, their strategy to deal with anyone different is “SHUNT THEM ..SHUNT THEM” . Ignorance is a bad vice !
indeed , it was really horrible seeing this girl pushed and pulled this way. people should change and learn !
My best friend is autistic, he’s now an outsource programmer.
Now that is something that made my day. Hopefully he will be better and better in his field.
It really is disturbing how some people treat other people, just because they don’t understand and they make quick judgments about people because they appear to be different. Kids who have autism are just like everyone else and do need all the care and love any other child needs. I know several kids who have autism, and they are so amazing and precious and don’t deserve to be treated the way ignorant people treat them.
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