April has been established as Autism Awareness Month. Â Like many, we at Growing Kids Therapy Center, feel that a better practice is Autism Acceptance Month. Â To celebrate Autism Acceptance month, I will be featuring the voices of our clients who Spell to Communicate. These are the only autism experts I consult these days! Â Their words are powerful and deserve to be heard! Â Huan, 18 years old, spelling on the letterboards for almost 2 years, starts us out!
Huan, April is around the corner and is known as Autism Awareness month or as I prefer to think of it, Autism Acceptance month. Â What are your thoughts about the difference between these two terms?
WHO IS NOT AWARE OF AUTISM AT THIS POINT? Â PERHAPS A BETTER QUESTION IS WHO IS ACCURATELY INFORMED ABOUT AUTISM? Â I GET THAT PEOPLE CARE AND ARE TRYING TO HELP. Â I AM NOT KNOCKING ANY INDIVIDUALS BUT MANY OF THE GROUPS THAT SEEK A CURE SEEM NOT TO UNDERSTAND THAT IN THEIR MESSAGES OF FEAR THEY ARE SAYING THAT I AM SOMETHING THAT NEEDS TO BE CHANGED TO BE ACCEPTABLE. HOW CAN THIS BE ANYTHING OTHER THAN AN INSULT? Â SO, THANKS FOR BEING AWARE OF ME! Â NOW HOW ABOUT ACCEPTING ME OR EVEN EMBRACING ME?
*For this lesson, I read this article from the Washington Post about Ari Ne’eman, co-founder of the Autism Self Advocacy Network. Huan is a very fluent and we are currently working on his analysis and synthesis skills. So, I simply present the information to Huan and he summarizes the key points and provides his own reflections to the material. Â (*Note: Huan’s responses are in all capitals; my comments or questions are in regular type).
ARI SOUNDS LIKE HE HAS READ MY MIND! Â HE WAS DIAGNOSED MUCH OLDER THAN I WAS BUT WE HAVE HAD THE SAME EXPERIENCES WHEN REALIZING THE NEGATIVE VIEWS OF AUTISM AND THEREFORE US. Â WE DO NEED TO SEEK THE COMPANY OF OTHER AUTISTICS. Â I WOULD VERY MUCH LIKE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT ASAN.
ASAN SOUNDS INCREDIBLE! Â I TOTALLY AGREE THAT AUTISTICS SHOULD HAVE A VOICE ABOUT AUTISM. Â WE SHOULD USE OUR COLLECTIVE VOICES TO SPEAK AS A COMMUNITY. Â RIGHTS NOT CURES SHOULD BE THE FOCUS.
FITTING SOMEONES’ DEFINITION OF NORMAL IS WAY TOO MUCH EFFORT FOR TOO LITTLE GAIN. Â I DON’T WANT TO WASTE MY ENERGY ON THAT ANYMORE. Â I DO REALIZE THAT I LIVE IN THE TYPICAL WORLD BUT FEEL MOST AT HOME WITH THOSE WHO EMBRACE ALL OF ME. Â SO HAPPY TO HAVE THIS AT HOME, WITH MY FRIENDS AND WITH YOU AND MEGHANN! Â FINDING A PLACE TO BELONG IN THIS WORLD IS A CHALLENGE BUT IT HELPS TO KNOW I HAVE PEOPLE WHO LOVE AND ACCEPT ME!
Huan is a leader in the autism community and an advocate for those who still do not have a voice. Happy Autism Acceptance Month! Â Follow us all month as our autism experts share their views on autism, advocacy, inclusion and acceptance!
~Elizabeth & Huan
