Published on 12, July, 2020
The week commencing 27 March is the designated 'Autism Awareness Week'.
Looking at the NAS articles, it seems to be all about fundraising, about baking cakes, going for a walk or holding a sponsored event. All very worthy, I am sure.
But aren't we missing something really important. The slogan is 'until everyone understands'. And what will everyone understand about autism if we just bake cakes or go for a walk? That there is a condition called 'autism'. That those who are autistic can bake cakes?
'Autism awareness week' should surely be an opportunity we should all use to state our case. Anyone who has been touched by autism, from parents and carers, relations, and those who are autistic themselves - should get involved in awareness where it really counts.
And that is by contacting the newspapers, writing letters to the media, writing to our MPs, lobbying parliament, writing to local councillors, and organising campaigns where the real issues relating to autism are stated. Issues such as lack of available diagnoses for adults, the waiting time for a diagnosis, the real lack of anything having been done under the 'Autism Strategy', the fact that NHS trusts do not offer any help at all to adults who may be on the spectrum. Many MPs are on Twitter and Facebook, we could message and tweet them. Get the broadcasters, local radio especially, interested in our cause. Write an article or letter for the local newspaper on the difficulties we face in everyday life, barriers put up not by us but by the attitude of others. This is surely as important as any amount of fundraising in raising awareness.
Daily I see discussions on this forum about problems autistic people and their carers are having with authority, funds being cut, barrers put in our way. And if we also let a wide audience know of these difficulties some of this may just begin to make others understand. Some seed may fall on stony ground, but if we all did communicate our issues to the media, our lawmakers, our local councillors then maybe, just maybe, we would begin to open a few doors in the barriers that are put in our way.
But how many of us will do this?
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...
You really think the school system is ruining lives? You do know it’s not compulsory don’t you? Nobody has to go to school, there are many alternative options. The school system in the U.K. may not be perfect, but are you?