This post is a bit different from the ones I thought I'd be posting. My concept was pretty simple: show others what life is like through the eyes of someone that's autistic.
I mean, it's not like I can really say that this is what it's like for all autistic people but I can at least show a small portion of this world and maybe people can understand more about autism.
How sad was I to realize just today, the day I'm getting ready to head to my cousin's wedding that there really are people who feel as if people who have autism shouldn't be listened to or taken notice of.
I know that discrimination based on disability does happen when it comes to the workforce and other places. True, this site might count against my in the eyes of many employers when I go looking for a job. However, the way I see it, if they would shut me out of a job that I'm qualified of capable of doing because I have a disability then I wouldn't want to be around them to see what other things and people they discriminate against.
This whole post was deemed necessary when I go on DA (Deviant Art) to check my messages and new art, when what do my eyes see but a post talking about taking fetish work off DA but in their description they said they wouldn't respond to someone who is autistic.
For obvious reasons I will not be linking to the person, DA, or the piece in question. I won't even copy and paste the sentence that seemed to sum up their thoughts on people with autism. Though, by now, you can probably guess what their thoughts on autism are.
While no real explanation seemed to be given for why they believed what they believe about people with autism, it's left to the rest of the world to speculate.
Does this person have autism and they hate themselves because of what they have to go through everyday? Or where they bullied everyday about their form of autism and make to believe they are worthless and meaningless because they have autism?
What could be their reason for assuming those with autism should be ignored?
True, some people with autism have an altered view of reality. Sometimes they have a harder time expressing themselves in a proper manner or in while trying to say what they mean it can come out wrong and unintentionally offend someone. I should know, I've done that last one.
I can't count the times I've said something that offended someone and I had no earthly idea I'd done anything wrong. Not because I was just being rude or I thought people talked that way but simply because my words got jumbled up in my head when I had to respond in the spur of the moment and nothing came out right,or rather nothing came out the way I intended.
I suppose that's why a blog works for me. It's the ultimate opportunity to look at what I'm "saying" and making sure I'm saying what I really mean all while being respectful.
But really, people with autism aren't useless people. Today, people and scientists are still debating and looking trying to discover what causes autism. Is it cause the parents smoked? Because they did recreational drugs? Is it genetics? Is it a birth defect?
No matter how and why autism happens to so many people, it still happens. To date, there is no "cure" for autism. There are ways to calm the symptoms down to reasonable levels but there will always be times where something will happen and a symptom will flare up and sometimes without warning.
It's no fault of theirs that they have something they were born with that now controls their life and actions. There are some amazing kids that have autism that can do amazing things. Last year I heard about a girl with autism that just liked to color. The drawings weren't of anything in particular but just swatches of color. These drawings drew the attention of their local library who now has a area of the library commemorating her work which can now be bought by others.
There are even authors, artists, activists, anthropologists, and music prodigies that are autistic. People like John Elder Robinson author of Look me in the Eye, Jason McElwain who is a high school student with autism that in the last minutes of high school basketball game, in which he was a member of the team, scored 20 points. Some of those being from the three point range.
There is Dawn Prince-Hughes that obtained her Ph.D. and is associated with the Jane Goodall Institute for her work as a primatologist and ethnologist.
Oh, and for those of you who like Pokemon. Satoshi Tajiri, the creator of Pokemon had an autistic fascination with bugs that led him to create the popular Pokemon franchise of video games.
Most of those people have a form of Asperger's Syndrome just like me. They are all successful people in their own way because people believed in them and they believed in themselves. And we all know how much money Mr. Tajiri made with the Pokemon franchise.
So, I don't know what would make someone think that people with autism have nothing to say or nothing of value to give to the world. People with autism are not "them" and I'm not going to go off and say "We..." because while I have autism, that doesn't mean people with autism should be mushed together and swept under a rug.
Everyone in the world has their own individual traits and quirks. To say that all people with autism shouldn't be listened to would be similar to saying that all "white" people are overweight bigots or all "blacks" are criminals. We as humanity are all individuals and have our own way of seeing the world based on how we were raised, the things we saw, and the things we experienced.
"Don't ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive." -Howard Thurman
I mean, it's not like I can really say that this is what it's like for all autistic people but I can at least show a small portion of this world and maybe people can understand more about autism.
How sad was I to realize just today, the day I'm getting ready to head to my cousin's wedding that there really are people who feel as if people who have autism shouldn't be listened to or taken notice of.
I know that discrimination based on disability does happen when it comes to the workforce and other places. True, this site might count against my in the eyes of many employers when I go looking for a job. However, the way I see it, if they would shut me out of a job that I'm qualified of capable of doing because I have a disability then I wouldn't want to be around them to see what other things and people they discriminate against.
This whole post was deemed necessary when I go on DA (Deviant Art) to check my messages and new art, when what do my eyes see but a post talking about taking fetish work off DA but in their description they said they wouldn't respond to someone who is autistic.
For obvious reasons I will not be linking to the person, DA, or the piece in question. I won't even copy and paste the sentence that seemed to sum up their thoughts on people with autism. Though, by now, you can probably guess what their thoughts on autism are.
While no real explanation seemed to be given for why they believed what they believe about people with autism, it's left to the rest of the world to speculate.
Does this person have autism and they hate themselves because of what they have to go through everyday? Or where they bullied everyday about their form of autism and make to believe they are worthless and meaningless because they have autism?
What could be their reason for assuming those with autism should be ignored?
True, some people with autism have an altered view of reality. Sometimes they have a harder time expressing themselves in a proper manner or in while trying to say what they mean it can come out wrong and unintentionally offend someone. I should know, I've done that last one.
I can't count the times I've said something that offended someone and I had no earthly idea I'd done anything wrong. Not because I was just being rude or I thought people talked that way but simply because my words got jumbled up in my head when I had to respond in the spur of the moment and nothing came out right,or rather nothing came out the way I intended.
I suppose that's why a blog works for me. It's the ultimate opportunity to look at what I'm "saying" and making sure I'm saying what I really mean all while being respectful.
But really, people with autism aren't useless people. Today, people and scientists are still debating and looking trying to discover what causes autism. Is it cause the parents smoked? Because they did recreational drugs? Is it genetics? Is it a birth defect?
No matter how and why autism happens to so many people, it still happens. To date, there is no "cure" for autism. There are ways to calm the symptoms down to reasonable levels but there will always be times where something will happen and a symptom will flare up and sometimes without warning.
It's no fault of theirs that they have something they were born with that now controls their life and actions. There are some amazing kids that have autism that can do amazing things. Last year I heard about a girl with autism that just liked to color. The drawings weren't of anything in particular but just swatches of color. These drawings drew the attention of their local library who now has a area of the library commemorating her work which can now be bought by others.
There are even authors, artists, activists, anthropologists, and music prodigies that are autistic. People like John Elder Robinson author of Look me in the Eye, Jason McElwain who is a high school student with autism that in the last minutes of high school basketball game, in which he was a member of the team, scored 20 points. Some of those being from the three point range.
There is Dawn Prince-Hughes that obtained her Ph.D. and is associated with the Jane Goodall Institute for her work as a primatologist and ethnologist.
Oh, and for those of you who like Pokemon. Satoshi Tajiri, the creator of Pokemon had an autistic fascination with bugs that led him to create the popular Pokemon franchise of video games.
Most of those people have a form of Asperger's Syndrome just like me. They are all successful people in their own way because people believed in them and they believed in themselves. And we all know how much money Mr. Tajiri made with the Pokemon franchise.
So, I don't know what would make someone think that people with autism have nothing to say or nothing of value to give to the world. People with autism are not "them" and I'm not going to go off and say "We..." because while I have autism, that doesn't mean people with autism should be mushed together and swept under a rug.
Everyone in the world has their own individual traits and quirks. To say that all people with autism shouldn't be listened to would be similar to saying that all "white" people are overweight bigots or all "blacks" are criminals. We as humanity are all individuals and have our own way of seeing the world based on how we were raised, the things we saw, and the things we experienced.
"Don't ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive." -Howard Thurman
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