Thoughts on Autism

Thoughts on Autism

There are many theories on autism, some theories have the backing of evidence, some considered myths by the scientific community, but to those who experience this condition, the cause does not matter, nor do the autistic signs. The only thing that really matters is the stigma that comes with the condition. Stigma is an untrue characteristic, that one person places on another person, before truly knowing who that person really is. As a nursing student, in class they don’t tell you how truly smart and witty a person with autism can be, you only hear the stigma “difficulties in communication” “difficulties in self-expression”. I am only now beginning to see through disability support work, the stigma that a condition like autism can bring. Through this line of work, I met a young intelligent and witty teenager; she often says I’m hilarious, smiling at the same time. Intelligence wise she researched and came up with her own theory of evolution by herself. And yet, her teachers cannot see past the condition. They cannot see what her own family sees, what I see every-day, a beautiful young girl struggling with this condition, but the real struggle is the stigma that her very own teachers at school place on her, as they do not see beyond the teacher’s aid assisting her in the classroom, or the autism. It is not the autism that is blinding the teachers to the intelligence, but the teachers are allowing themselves to be blinded by the stigma of autism, this, unfortunately, means the teachers are holding the learning potential of this young person back, not allowing her to learn past the current class content. What this means, is that every school day, this teenager is unchallenged by the learning, effectively bored, and all she wants is to do is advanced lessons. In her own words, she said how can I be myself when no one will let me; I admit its very difficult to be yourself when someone is trying to limit your learning potential, all because of stigma. At that moment I reminded her the only person that can limit you, is yourself, however when your a teenager living in an adult world, in a classroom environment this can become difficult. The stigma of autism is affecting this person, as she cannot see her own intelligence, only the view of her teachers. So please next time someone tells you they have autism, don’t bring the assumptions to the conversation, look beyond the condition and see who they truly are as a person, just like you and me.