Light it up blue tomorrow (and all of April, if you can), for autism awareness.
I know, there are a million causes screaming for your attention. And there are many very, very serious ones. My own family has been touched by heart disease, diabetes and the big “C”, cancer.
These causes, typically, are reserved for those of us who have lived – sometimes too roughly or cautiously, sometimes just with, we feel, rotten luck. But, for the most part, we are older, wiser and with the facility to understand just what is wrong with us and what we need to do to get well. However, there are some causes that hit us where we can’t fight, understand or help – in the mind – and they hit hardest in kids. Autism is one of them.
I know, because my eldest son is autistic.
Whether diagnosed or not, you have statistically known at least one, probably 10, maybe 100 people with autism in your lifetime. The current statistics put it about 1 in 50 – even higher for boys than girls. Now, that may be just because we are better equipped to diagnose, or perhaps have broadened the definitions too much, but regardless, that’s irrelevant, isn’t it? Regardless of the “criteria”, if you would have fit them twenty, 30 or 50 years ago, you would STILL fit them, no?
Autism is not a disease, it’s not a mental illness – it’s a developmental disorder. And rather than dismiss, shun or think of people with autism as “weird” or “unusual”, it’s on US to learn what it means to be autistic, and how to help. Since the statistics seem to be on the rise, it is in our own best interest, is it not?
There have been some great stories about autism in the news lately, from the ABC news “What would you do?” segment last April to the latest “hamburger at Chilis” story. Awareness is on the rise across the country.
Is it in your neck of the woods? What about just above your neck?