Culture

Challenging Popular Myths About Autism

by dysamoria | July 31, 2009 at 04:24 pm

241 views | 26 Recommendations | 5 comments

Quote

Far from being a moment of heartbreak, my diagnosis was a cause for celebration. For the first time, my life made sense. I had always felt very different from other people. I had always had a sense of apartness, of otherness, for which I could find no explanation. The subject of autism had always fascinated me, but the idea that I might be autistic seemed absurd. I’d gone to college, made friends, and worked full-time. I was married and raising a family. How could I be autistic? After all, autistic people were locked into their own, strange worlds, unable to communicate or function in society. Or so I thought. I’ve come a long way since then. In the process of understanding myself as an autistic woman, I’ve had to discard all of the myths I’ve ever heard on the subject. These myths include the following. ...

RACHEL COHEN-ROTTENBERG

i could say a lot about the popular myths about autism, but i happily don't need to: someone already wrote an absolutely fantastic article. RACHEL COHEN-ROTTENBERG wrote such an accessible, accurate, direct and personally touching article on the topic, i thought it should get more attention:

Challenging Popular Myths About Autism

An EXCELLENT article that's also very relevant to me personally. It's an almost perfect surrogate article for what i WOULD write if this were my article title. Check it out.

Also, please read (in my opinion a very related article) "There are no wheelchair ramps for us" by the same author, at her blog (see quote box below).

Quote

I’ve been thinking lately about the difficulties of having a misunderstood, invisible condition. Many people do not understand how autistic people see the world, partly because of the misinformation out there, and partly because our condition manifests itself largely in the privacy of our own brains. Certainly, we do things people can see, like stimming, or melting down, or being out of sync in a conversation, but most people don’t understand what underlies our behavior. ... I began to think about what the world would look like if people had to take into account our disabilities. What if every public building and private business had to make its environment accessible for autistic people? If I could create such a law in my local community, here is how the law would read: ...

RACHEL COHEN-ROTTENBERG

0 See all footage | View Slideshow

Share: email story | add to any | | facebook | stumbleupon

recommend This comment thread is now closed

Rory Cripps

at 16:30 on July 31st, 2009

Thank you for this post! I know about autism all too well for I've got a little girl that's autistic.

dysamoria

at 16:35 on July 31st, 2009

my pleasure. reading this woman's story made me cry because of the specific issues she addressed being so personally important to me. i hope your little girl has nowhere near the difficulty i had in my life as she grows up. being diagnosed at a time in life where accommodation can be the most useful (and actually is believed in and exists, despite the myths and conflicting beliefs) can be the difference between a "normal" life and ... well... mine. best wishes to you both.