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.
