Something I’ve learned in recent years is that a lot of people don’t understand people who are on the autism spectrum and don’t think it is possible to interact with them. Growing up with a younger brother with autism, I learned early on how to connect with people living with autism. I’ve personally seen on multiple occasions other people ignoring, or even bullying people with special needs. How can someone treat someone that can’t help who they are with such disrespect?

I remember being embarrassed when my brother was very young, around the time he was first diagnosed, when he would throw huge temper tantrums in the middle of a Walgreens. All the strangers in the store would turn and glare and me and my brother. Without any knowledge of the situation, I was judged. My father was judged. My brother was judged. I can only imagine what they were thinking behind those judgmental eyes. I would turn a deep shade of red and would try to quickly drag my brother and myself out of the situation before he did anything else. My brother, screaming and flailing around on the floor, was clueless to the attention he had drawn to us. He didn’t understand that this wasn’t something you are supposed to do.

And even though I knew back then, and still do now, that he didn’t understand, I would turn to anger. I would get so infuriated with him for not understanding you can’t do things like that in a public space. Something like this for me is easy to understand. For him, it wasn’t. One thing I had to learn was that people with autism sometimes think differently than people without autism. Their brains work differently. It’s something that a lot of people don’t understand about those on the spectrum. Sometimes they are going to act differently, it’s just something that they can’t help. Accepting that they can't help who they are is the first step to understanding. The most important thing to remember about a person with autism is that they are people too, with emotions and feelings just like any person not on the spectrum.

While educating people about autism is very important, especially to me, something equally important is that it is being researched. Autism doesn’t have a known cause or a known cure. The National Institute of Health gives $169 million a year to autism research. That may seem like a lot of money, but that is only .55% of their budget. Let’s put it into perspective. In one year of funding (2007), the National Cancer Institute spent $572.4 million on exclusively breast cancer research. Also in this same year, The National Institute of Health spent an additional $705 million. The Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation had total revenues of $162 million. About 3 million women live with breast cancer in America. About 3.5 million people live with autism in America. So even more people are diagnosed with autism than breast cancer, yet autism research receives only a fraction of what breast cancer research receives each year. I do not wish to offend anyone who lives with or has a family member that lives with breast cancer. Breast cancer is not something to take lightly, but neither is autism.

Society is taking huge strides here in recent years for bettering people with autism’s lives. “Today, roughly 50 companies in the U.S. have a workforce that’s primarily made up of autistic workers,” says Michael Bernick, a former director of California’s labor department who is now counsel to Sedgwick law firm and writes about neurodiversity. The software company SAP has decided to make 1% of its workforce people with autism. JP Morgan Chase also has an autism hiring plan in place. The term “autism” wasn’t even used until 1911, so about 100 years later companies are now taking steps to normalizing hiring people on the spectrum. A recent news story out of Ohio shows that now police officers are getting special training to respond to people with autism.

I understand that a lot of people are now being educated about autism. The community supporting autism grows daily, and the more supporters we have, the easier it will be to get more research done, and for people of the autistic community to be able to live normal healthy lives. But our work is never done, there can always be more steps taken to help people in the autistic community. Several organizations exist that are great places to donate to and to volunteer for.

http://www.autism-society.org

https://www.autismspeaks.org

https://www.autism.com

http://nationalautismassociation.org

With more work and effort, we can make this world a better place for people on the spectrum.

This one's for you, Ian. I wouldn't change you for the world, but I would change the world for you.