So, it's still Autism Awareness Month. If you read my last article on the subject, you can tell I have strong feelings about this topic. Don't get me wrong, if you feel like dressing up in blue to raise awareness about autism or for the sake of the autistic people in your life, there is nothing wrong with that. That wasn't the biggest issue I had with that day.

My real issue is some of the misconceptions about the condition that are often spread during these "awareness" programs. Since cynicism and bitterness will get me nowhere in life, I've decided to answer some of these misconceptions myself.

1. All people with autism are savant prodigies like Rain Man.

Despite how the condition is often portrayed in the media, not all autistic people are super geniuses. While according to recent studies the autistic mind is shown to have more aptitude with visual processing and pattern recognition, this does not equate to the ability to act as a human calculator. The inspiration for the character wasn't even autistic.

2. All people with autism are unable to communicate and take care of themselves.

People with autism are either, in the eyes of the public, savant prodigies or completely nonverbal and unable to achieve any form of independence, always requiring a caretaker for the rest of their lives. I have three major objections to this point. 1. Neither of these portraits are entirely accurate: autism is a spectrum, ranging to either extreme, even to people who may only seem a little "weird." 2. Many autistic people can actually take care of themselves. I may be on the more "high-functioning" end of the spectrum, but I am able to take care of my daily needs within reason at college without assistance. 3. Even if an autistic person cannot speak, it does not mean it is impossible to communicate with them; there are methods and technologies available to help the autistic person interact with the rest of the world.

3. Autistic children need to learn how to act normal, and therapies that help them do that are good.

Oh boy. There are many therapies that exist to get rid of behaviors such as avoiding eye contact and flapping their hands or other disruptive behaviors. This type of therapy often falls under the label of applied behavioral analysis, or ABA. While the term is often used as a blanket term by insurance because ABA is the only therapy that "works", some kinds of this therapy can be demeaning and stressful in the long term. For instance, this is a bad kind of therapy:

Note the girl's distress and how the parents and teacher continue to insist on the her performing the desired behavior. Note also the bribery with a treat, like how you would train a dog. Good therapies teach the child skills they need while being engaging and relaxing, like so:

The behaviors that are being "removed" are important for an autistic child: they help release stress and sometimes act as a way of communication. You can redirect these behaviors into less disruptive or destructive forms, but getting rid of them is like silencing the child's voice.

4. Autism destroys lives and must therefore be cured/eradicated

Where do I even begin with this one? Organizations like Autism Speaks, which happens to sponsor our school's Action for Autism club, are dedicated to finding a cure for autism, over providing services in the here and now: It spends approximately 7 times more money on research than on "family service" grants. In order to raise this money, it often appealed to a sense of fear, in one video giving autism the voice of a monster that "works faster than pediatric AIDS, cancer, and diabetes combined" and plans to "rob you of your children and your dreams". While such rhetoric will help get the organization research funds, it also makes autism be seen as something that destroys anyone it touches, when that simply is not the case. I don't think my autism has "destroyed" anything about me; like I said, it's always been a part of me and I can't imagine living or thinking in any other way. Which makes "curing" autism sound less appealing, at least to people with autism: it would get rid of a defining part of themselves, something that frames the very way their minds function.

One last thing: everyone with autism is affected by the condition differently, so it is hard to make the sweeping generalizations as seen above. In short:

Happy Autism Awareness Month.