Roche: Autism asks acceptance
During last year's Autism Awareness Month, I wrote that one in every 150 people is affected with some form of autism. That statistic has been the same for years.
When I received an e-mail from Autism Speaks with newer statistics in October 2009, I thought: Finally, the rates are beginning to go down. Imagine my surprise when I read one in every 91 children now is part of the autism spectrum disorder. One in every 58 boys is affected.
More than ever, it is imperative that this special population is accepted into a society they might not understand and doesn't understand them. It's time to show more compassion and have more patience with those who are not the same as everyone else.
What do you show members of this special population when they are having a hard time? Perhaps they're having a meltdown in trying to cope in a world they don't understand.
Do you say encouraging words to the parents or silently pray for a blessing for them? Or do you feel compelled to judge and ridicule them because their perfection is not the same as yours?
As Dr. Wayne Dyer once said, "Whenever you have a thought that excludes or judges anyone else, you aren't defining them. You're defining yourself as someone who needs to judge others."
Perhaps children with autism are here to teach us how diversity in others should be accepted, loved and respected. It's time for a shift in consciousness.
My 23-year-old son has high-functioning autism. Imagine a world in which he can be accepted for the kind, loving young man he is. Isn't that what every parent wants?
As parents, we must be willing to get rid of the lives we planned in order to have the lives that are waiting for us and our exceptional children. I have the pleasure of knowing many kids with varying degrees of autism, and they all are different in their abilities.
If you know someone who has autism, don't think that you "know" autism. You only know that child. They all are unique and different, as Van Gogh and Einstein were.
Imagine how different life would have been without those two.The original article can be found here.
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