Last night I watched a short documentary about three young adults with autism. They were all very articulate, although one communicated through a computer speech program rather than actually talking. One of them worked as a researcher in a university.
They were talking about being autistic and what it meant to them. They all denied that their autism was a problem for them. In fact one of them said it was a gift as it allowed her to comprehend things in ways that ‘normal’ people could not.
They all rejected the notion of being ‘cured’ of their autism or of modifying their behavior to fit that of society in general. They were happy in their skin – and how many people can truly say that.
Had their life been easy – no – but the difficulties had been caused by others reactions to them rather than by their autism itself. They saw themselves as ‘different’ rather than ‘difficult’.
Only one of them was able to look into the camera and I found it a bit disconcerting listening to one woman who constantly moved her head side to side to avoid eye contact. But when I listened to what she was saying ( I closed my eyes) I realized that she her ideas and perceptions were indeed remarkable.
A mother of a young autistic child spoke about the adverse comments she had received about her child’s strange behavior and how she should stop him doing certain things. Her response was that she celebrated who he was and that his sometimes strange actions were his way of learning about his environment.
One of the older autistics was lobbying for autism to become recognized and protected in the same way as a person’s color, race and religion. He described autism as just one part of the broad spectrum of people who make up a society.
Homosexuals were once seen as deviants who could be cured – maybe it is time to consider people with autism in a similar way.
