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:
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eww dia.
Comment by Adam February 15, 2010 @ 7:12 pmi hate ittttt
cuz my teacher doesnt like me
so she always gives me c’s and b’s.
Wow your great writer. And DIA sounds like a cool (yet boring) idea for school. But I’ve never heard about it in my middle school. And you’re so right about the struggle for being ‘safe’ in middle school (and high school). I’m not so safe, but I have been in the past couple of weeks. And I haven’t really been making fun of people though.
Comment by The (Melody) Blog - Brett February 28, 2010 @ 8:11 pmi love that you chose autism for your project! my mom was telling me about how you guys had to do this. i work in the special education department on campus and i’ve learned so much about developmental disabilities. i just went and volunteered at this home for adults with autism/asperger’s/down syndrome etc. LOVED IT! and i love you even more!
Comment by lauren March 13, 2010 @ 4:24 am