Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: ASD, Autism, Autism Society of America, Autism Speaks, autism treatments, CBS, Democracy, Democracy In Action, Spectrum, Spectrum Magazine, statistics, Sue Rubin, treatments
AUTISM. AND WHY YOU SHOULD CARE!!
Let me explain: we have this lovely project (and no I’m not being sarcastic!) that my teacher thought up a couple years back. She calls it Democracy In Action (DIA), and I’m proud to say that I think there’s only one other school that copied us. Well, DIA is the big thing that all the 8th graders do. The 8th graders freak the seventh graders out mostly by complaining about it, and saying how hard you’ll work, the lack of sleep you’ll get… but I digress.. The point is this: I chose to do autism as my DIA topic. I didn’t have to think about for long; I hate how the opted “weird” kids always get attacked at school. Middle School is, as we all know, the struggle to “fit in” by basically crushing other people’s lives into tiny little pieces of pain and sorrow. Seriously. For those lucky few who manage to look good, attack others, etc, they’re (kind of) safe. The truth is, no one can be 100% safe ever, but anyway. For those many people who aren’t so fortunate, life is hard. For thefew who actually struggle with behavioral problems, etc, it’s even harder. Possibly more than anyone can imagine, I know I can’t really wrap my mind around it. Anyway, for those (now not so rare) people with autism, being surrounded by their peers who aren’t autistic like themselves, I can assure you, is tough. Obviously, I’m not autistic, but let me just tell you a little bit about this disorder.
I believe the first time autism was really looked at, or reported was in the late ’40s. In that time, however, no one seemed to understand it, and the few who were actually studying it wouldn’t have been able to tell you much. Today, more and more people are starting to take an interest in autism. There are lots of organizations (headed/started mostly by mothers, or fathers of autistic people) that offer aid to families affected by autism. (I’ll put some helpful links below, if you’re interested.)
Autism itself, and for many autistics out there, is a battle, and a struggle to stay in control of their emotions, etc. Today, every 1 in 100 or 110 (1 in about 70 boys) children are autistic. Over the years, the rates of autism have increased greatly, and no one knows exactly why. Of course there’s the theories, and all that, but there’s no known and/or proven cause of autism. Along with that, there’s no cure. There’s treatments, of course; now there are schools for autistic children, (my mom works at a school where they have a classroom with autistic children. The kids interact with other, non-autistic students, but have their own classroom where everything is organized, taught, etc specifically for them) and if a child is diagnosed early enough, and there is time, and money, they can be placed in (hopefully) a good school where their autism can not necessarily be cured, but dealt with, and handled properly. If done soon enough, the child’s autism might not be as bad as those who don’t receive some kind of treatment until they’re, say around the age of 8.
Autism begins to be noticeable in children around the ages of two and three. It’s a shame when some autistic children aren’t realized to be autistic until they’re much older. By then, they’re further into their own world, and their own kind of mental prison, one that becomes harder and harder to control and escape from. Still, you need to know, and remember this: they aren’t stupid, and they are most definitely not unaware of the world around them. I was reading an article that had a kind of interview with , Sue Rubin an inspiring autistic woman who is learning to really cope with her autism. Here’s a little excerpt that really made me think (taken from “What Are They Thinking“, a CBS online article)
When asked about what it was like to be locked in silence, inside her body without any way to communicate non-verbally, Rubin is blunt.
“Nightmare,” she types.
So I hope that hits home with you guys, like it did for me. It really made me think about how easy life is for all of us, and how often we take it for granted. I think I’ll add more to this in a while, because right now as I go over this, all of it sounds bad. I don’t usually write so horrendously… Anyway, here are some links that you should really check out:
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: animal cruelty, bad laughs, fish, fishes, gears of war, generations, video games, violence, violent video games
Hey, guys! Sorry for being such a sloth and not doing anything for months and months and months. This blog, right now, could technically be compared to a sluggish old person trying to watch some 5 hour long movie, but falling asleep, and then starting it over. Ick. I know, crappy example. Haha. Anyway. I must explain: I have two ideas, and I really didn’t want to put them in the same post, mainly because they’re opposites, and have nothing to do with one another. Yeah. I need order. (: Alright. So, topic no.1:
WHAT HAS BECOME OF MY GENERATION?
A few days ago, Bella told me a gruesome story, one that I won’t tell you, I’ll only give you a few main points, and details. A girl basically killed an animal (one that I suppose wasn’t cute, and furry because she basically stabbed it to death), laughed about it and took pictures of it. I’ll spare you the rest of the story, and get on to my main point. Has this generation lost all feeling, and sense of right versus wrong? I mean that is just inhumane (inanimane?), and it just made me wonder how anyone gets around to that, and getting some kind of joy out of it too. I just don’t get it. Maybe it’s all of us kids (starting from like the tender age/s of 6-8) playing violent video games and all that. (For instance, a credible source told me of some 8 yr olds he knew who played games like GEARS OF WAR. I mean seriously, 8 year olds?? I think that’s going to maybe mess them up a bit..) Now, I’m sure some of you may be like: “Well, teenagers can handle it. They’re mature enough to shoot at animated people, and not go out and shoot other people.” I mean, I’m not talking about violence, so much as… just insensitivity, and inhumane-ness(?). (I still like those games, but I guess I’m just lucky that I know how gross, and more importantly awful, and cruel, it is to kill little animals for no apparent reason.)
Anyway, what I’m trying to get at is this: people change, generations change. I’m sure my generation, in comparison to one 12 years ago is going to be vastly different…But it would be nice if every generation kept a sense of right and wrong, had some morals, and knew what a life–even a little fishy’s– means: definitely more than a few laughs.
Filed under: Art, Reviews, Weekly Word | Tags: baby that ain't enough, basho, bella, blog, cartoon, gabby, haiti, hall and oats, help, ipad, ipod, irresponsible sisters, Itouch, love, oh girl you've got to know, old music, onward, onward '10, photography, photos, private eyes, project basho, psych, shoes, siena, soles4souls, steve jobs, technology, triplets, unnecessary tagging, weird, you can twist it around
Oh lord, it’s been how long? Well, on behalf of my irresponsible sisters and I, I’d like to (again) say sorry. But my life is well… a life, and I just write on this blog to feel famous. Not really. Anyway, I had something really awe-inspiring to pronounce, however it has escaped my mind. Instead, I’ll direct you to the title just above the cartoon me’s adorable head. A good t.v. show used that for a commercial and my mom apparently has the cd. I looked it up on youtube, it was funny but that guy can sing.
On another note, school’s been hectic. And Apple as always is rolling out the many (seemingly the same products). Such as the giant itouch, ipad. Aside from the slightly strange name and oh so unique idea, it looks… well, okay. My grievances? For one, I’ve always hated ipod touches. It seem so cool in the beginning, however the typing and weird web browsing turned me off. Then it broke. Anyway, if I ever bought an Ipad, I’d probably prefer a laptop, and would still buy one. Also: They are creating this whole ‘book store’ thing online, just like music. If I’m correct, it was actually an old app. Anyway, it’s sort of like some product Barnes & Noble came out with. To be honest, I prefer books over weird computerized e-books that provide the sound of the page crinkling when you swipe it, which after a few minutes gets only a little annoying (based on the app version). Still, the great thing is the ipad only costs about $500. Well, I’m just skipping from topic to topic here, so here’s a picture of Stevie and his pad.
In other news… First off, I never thought I’d be talking about anything other than me and my life on here! Okay, so in other news: lots of things are going on in the world. I hate to be so serious, but right now I’m doing a lot of–well unselfish things, I think. It seems strange since on here I tend to be anything but selfless. Well, I’m planning to donate shoes to other countries in need (think shoe drives!) through a site called Soles4Souls. Other than that, you can be sure that I pitch change in the help for Haiti cans whenever I see them. Let’s make this year a caring year. After all, we have so much to give, if only we could give just a little bit of that–think how much good it could do! Lots of people, myself included have an excess of shoes, clothes, food, things we end up buying but not using. Even in a school environment, I see lots of kids who don’t truly value, appreciate, and understand the simple fact that they get to go to a school–especially in such a nice neighborhood. It’s sad and something we can’t really get around. So the most we can do is give a little here and there.
Well that was serious. Anyway, my mom is going away to Philadelphia tonight. She’s taking the red eye and is coming back Sunday night. To say the least I am devastated. I guess I’ll end up living with my parents until I’m forty and slightly balding (not to say that all 40 year olds bald/slightly bald.). However, I’ll continue! The nature of her visit is related to photography for a competition that she is a finalist in- ONWARD. Note: she’s the first one. I’m greatly excited for her, and I know she’ll win. At least, she deserves to.
Well, so long everybody, have a wonderful rest of your life.
