Should Autism Awareness week be more than baking cakes ...?

I love what you have said.

I'm one of those people who is doing these things.

I encourage everyone to do something. I have just read on a Facebook ASD page about a young boy who was put in quarantine for 5 hours at school for forgetting his PE kit. He's autistic. Are we living in the UK in 2019 or are we living in 1944 Germany or Russia sending people to Stalingrad.. it's disgusting.

I am currently reading Dr Ross Greene book the explosive child which I would encourage everyone to read. You can pick it up second-hand on Amazon. I live in one of the counties that has the highest number of autistic children and it's going up every month. I will be writing letters and I will be getting back on the radio to talk about these things.

An autistic child or any child would do well at school if they could.

if you picked a person up from deepest darkest Peru in the jungle and dropped them in the middle of London how would they react. They wouldn't understand the language.. the culture.. all the social nuance  and so on. thats how  kids and people feel when they don't have the skill set to deal with situations others can deal with.

Why do we expect a person who doesn't understand to cope when they don't have the skills or have a development issue that has never been dealt with. When are we going understand that some people have a low frustration threshold and the modern factory churn them out school system is ruining lives.

That's not the half of it...

Agreed.  There's money in meds, of course.  Tons and tons of it.  Easier and more profitable to cosh us back into insensible compliance, and maybe 'passable assimilation'.

I take no meds at all now.  And now that I'm committed to a course of counselling, I'm also committing to stopping self-medication.  I've a feeling it won't always be easy. I've stipulated to the counsellor that I'm not interested in any form of 'corrective therapy'.  I've think I've had enough damage from that.

Before I was diagnosed, because of stress, anxiety and depression, I was put on anti depressants.  I was not happy with it.  And my employers Occupational Health department wanted my GP to considerably increase the dose.  Needless to say I did not take that advice.

Anti depressants do nothing to address the cause of the problem.  They just make it so you couldn't care less.  Addressing the cause of problems in autism is really what should be done, and the problems would then soon diminish and disappear.  But the thinking with medics is that if some pill or other is available then it should be used.  And look what that thinking has now done in other areas such as antibiotics where they have become increasingly ineffective.  Over or unnecessary prescribing of antidepressants causes addiction and ever increasing doses. 

But it is just easier for a doctor to give out tablets or inject sedatives than it is to find the real cause of the problem.

It's good that research now seems to be moving away from the 'impairment/disability/corrective therapy' idea and more towards an acceptance of autism as a different way of perceiving, processing and responding to the world.  Still a long way to go, I fear.

My information leaflets were, on the whole, well-received at work and provoked some interesting discussion.  Small potatoes... but maybe some people are opening their eyes a bit.

With Autism Week/Day, wouldn't it be nice if all these local/national government and employers had a pop-up marketplace with information on the condition.  It could also have some individuals who are happy to demonstrate their strengths together with some issues with NT's.  There is so much about cakes for this, dress up for that and exercise for the next thing.  

Why can't we be different in bringing the world along with us, like PRIIDE, to become more visible/awareness.  

I watched Victoria Derbyshire this morning and found it ridiculous that some are being locked up and because they are having meltdown's then they are put on medication (they did not need it before they were locked up) to supposedly help them.  Their anxiety should be addressed by understanding not sectioning!!!  Just shows how mental health awareness is ignored by those that should know better.

I'm getting fed up with this Autism awareness week. It's a 'fluff' type celebration used as a facade by the NAS to cover the fact that they provide next to no services for large numbers of people that they are supposed to be representing.

The cakes are all lies but the NAS could probably sue for defamation anybody who dares to write the truth on them in icing.

It all sounds a bit 'W.I.' to me.  Knit a scarf for autism awareness.

I have never baked a cake.    

And get this. A former colleague of mine at the specialist autism unit has informed me that staff there  are 'celebrating' World Autism Awareness Week by  going in to work on Monday with - quote - 'wacky hair'.

I'm really glad I'm no longer there.  I mean, WTF is that meant to contribute to 'autism awareness'?  Another Edward Scissorhands/Tim Burton/Crazy Professor stereotype?

Yep.  Although I work for a large foundation that caters for people with all kinds of disabilities (physical and learning), including a few people with autism, the general understanding among staff of the condition is very poor.  Even one of our trainers believes that having Asperger's means that a person is 'highly autistic'.  So I've produced an A5 leaflet - 'What is Autism?' - which gives a basic introduction to the condition, and the issues that autistic people have.  I've also got a page of 'Facts, Figures and Myths' which covers stuff like education, social interaction, availability of support, and so on.  I've used it to challenge a lot of the stereotypes and the 'lack of empathy', 'anti-social', 'mental health', 'everyone's a bit autistic', 'vaccinations' and 'cures' nonsense.  I'll give copies to all of my colleagues.  I think most people are genuinely interested, so it could prove useful.  I'll see.  Several of my colleagues have openly said they would like to know more.

I'll also make it known to people that I'm happy to answer any questions they may have.

As you say, it should be a celebration of autism.

Just remembering my post from way back, as usual not much has changed.

The 'Autism Debate' was a nod in the right direction.  I wonder how many who invited their MP got a response?  I haven't had one yet, but being Harry Hopeful perhaps one will arrive soon.  Unfortunately the debate happened just as something about Europe was being discussed so MPs would have had other things on their mind....

Over the last year there has been some headway made in making people aware of autism.  Such things as the CEASE therapy being prevented from advertising and having action taken to prevent their totally misrepresenting autism and so called 'cures' are certainly a start.  But also there has been awareness made of treatment of autistic people in care homes.  However I think that real awareness of autism is still not there, not least because neurotypicals still think of it as a mental health condition.

The walk might be have positive results but only if it makes the news.  And there probably won't be enough participants to make more than a line in a local newspaper.  There is also a problem that many autistic people who have an aversion to crowds would not take part.

So Autism Awareness should be more than baking cakes (although I like the idea of putting slogans on cakes, why can't Greggs or someone get involved in baking some Autism Slogan Cakes for sale during the week and making a donation?).  Letters and press releases should be written to newspapers, together with real stories, MPs should be lobbied, and a high profile campaigns should be adopted. Facepack, Twigger, and other social media should be used for spreading information (I'm sure we could have some good points to spread to th masses) And as Clovis said last year (2018) it should be a celebration of Autism, with autistic people displaying their creative, artistic, scientific, technical and other talents in the media for all to see.  Perhaps Autism Has Talent ... and not just a Variety Entertainment Show but something which really shows how autism has 'changed the world'.

And this should be 'for life' not just for April Fool's week.  And I am sure there is not really a connection there ... or is there?.

I'll see if I can do it tomorrow. I will try to put the proposed text on this site for comments and approval beforehand.

I would support such a petition and I'm sure a lot of people would.

So will you set it up?  Include what you have written here (which I think explains the petition very well.) Promote it on social media and you never know!  If nothing else it may increase awareness of autism.

What I think is that neurodiversity should be added to the Equality Act as a protected characteristic seperate from disability. This has been recommended previously in a document regarding the Act. (The Equality Act 2010: the impact on disabled people).

If neurodiversity were a seperate protected characteristic, then we wouldn't have to prove disability in order to be protected from discrimination. And we do need that protection - otherwise, why would we have the highest unemployment rate even among other people with disabilities. People bully and mistreat us whether or not our condition causes us significant impairment in our day-to-day activity.

I am tired of being treated badly because I was born different, and I really don't see why people like me should have to prove that their difference amounts to a disability in order to be treated like everyone else.

What do you think? Should someone start a petition to add neurodiversity as a tenth protected characteristic?

DragonCat16 said:

What we could do is write messages about autism on the cakes in icing. Two birds with one stone, and cake too!

Many a true word said in jest!  I think that is a good idea, sort of a 'love heart' message but to do with autism!

Messages like "Autistic Meltdowns are a way of like" and "Autism is a way of literal thinking" and "Autism means solving problems in a different way", I'm sure others can do better than me!

As regards a petition, I am all for that but need to think of what we would be petitioning for - better diagnostic pathways or would we ask for something a bit less definable?  Pehaps asking for better recognition of autism as a disablement and less discrimination by official bodies would be a start.

What we could do is write messages about autism on the cakes in icing. Two birds with one stone, and cake too!

Seriously, though, has anyone thought about starting a petition for the government (petition.parliament.uk) They will listen if they think a large enough portion of the voting public supports something. We are only around 1%, but if we can get people to sign by posting about it on social media, maybe others will sign just because they consider it cool to do so.

I have noticed a link on the main website to invite your MP to a debate on 29 March 2018, and add your comments on the form of a letter on things you would like him/her to knpw, especially local issues.Very easy to complete and I hope as many as possible complete it. Thank you NAS for including this, it will get our representatives informed of the problems we face.

And if you ddo submit it I would expect a reply so it will be interesting to see what these are - could NAS include a section perhaps outside this forum for us to send the replies we receive so we can hold them to account or congratulate them depending on how words are transferred to actions?

In reply to Blue Ray, I have a great deal of respect for your views and realise there is more than one route to a destination.  But what I am attempting to getting across that the 'Awareness Week' seems to not have a very high profile and appears to miss the target by a long way.

If the purpose of 'Awareness Week' is to make people aware, then one would expect articles in the daily papers, articles on the radio and television, interviews with people affected by autism, explanations in the press as to what the effect of Autism on someone is and the many forms it can take.  A chance to publicise that more support should be upcoming, that it is very diffiucult to get a diagnosis as an adult, and we should explain that doctors generally are quite ignorant of how people are affected. 

I don't want to rehash my original post, on reading it again I think I put it as well as I possibly could.  Yes, we can bake cakes, we can go on a walk, we can wear a brightly coloured tee shirt.  But such things on their own will only get us lost in the general 'Awareness Weeks' of other campaigns and charities.  What we should be doing, and directed towards, is heping put our real message across  That those who are autistic in its many manifestations are very much in need of help and support. And the higher profile this gets the more  genuine 'awareness' of the condition there will be.

Thought I would revive my post from last year.

As I believe the points in my post are still relevant I woulld just like to ask if anything has changed from last year ...?