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April is Autism Awareness Month.
April 07 2012
Comments
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RHP User
14 years ago
As a community artist I have met many creative people who happen to have to a greater or lessor degree autism spectrum disorder or ASD. The work of Michael Russell ,poet and playwright,the Brotherhood of the Wordless a Brisbane writers group,and many visual artists both in Australia ,USA,and the Uk are representative of the talented work of many people with ASD. Organisations such as Acess Arts Australia,,Cascade Services Redcliffe,Project Ability Uk.,.Creative Growth Centre Oakland California,Berenger Gallery Boston,to name just a few ,supprt and showcase the works of artists with disabilties including people with ASD. The work of many of these artists appear in collections all over the world and as a genre are included in what is known as the Outsider Art Movement. Best wishes to you and your family jeeny-lee xHugs H
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RHP User
14 years ago
Not having children of my own, I had no idea about autsim except text book stuff..until my g/f had a child diagnosed with autism and Aspergers....it was a eye opener...and my hat goes off to her (and all parents)....living with this...your patience and love knows no boundaries...I knew it was Autism day last Monday and wore the color blue accordingly.. My g/f son who is my god child..is adorable beyond compare and I as a adult has learned so much from him...Im sure this is the same with you and Jensman....thankyou for sharing....hug Hesione (as per usual great post) thanks for making us all aware of this
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RHP User
14 years ago
My Eldest (8) has a differbility not a disability and is diagnosed Aspergers. My heart goes out to all families especially siblings that live with ASD. :) and I'm glad it's a week and not day ;)Cass xxx
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RHP User
14 years ago
The child in question is the youngest of our seven (yes, I said 7). Jen was aware of the problem when he was very young but as no two of our previous kids were the same, I assumed it was just a manifestation of individuality. One evening, while shopping, our son was in the stroller wailing quite loudly. We had tried to settle him by hugging him but he would have none of it. We had no choice but to let him wear himself out. After collecting all our purchases, we joined the queue to the check outs. The little fellow was tiring so Jen picked him up again and rocked him off to sleep. One unabashed old lady couldn't resist commenting, "Well, if they had done that a half hour ago, it would have saved us all some grief." I ofcourse turned to her and said, "Yes, we've figured out how to quiet an upset baby. Now how do we shut up an obnoxious old woman?" It can be difficult keeping an autistic child in line. It doesn't help when ignorant people give irrelevant opinons wthout knowing the facts. The next time you see a weary woman unable to keep her child well behaved, consider that she may not be incompetant or neglectfull. She may simply be physically, mentally and emotionally drained by an extremely difficult situation.
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RHP User
14 years ago
and Jensman...... hats off guys! well done for even bringing this subject up! ........... about bloody time someone posted a 'real world' topic too ! We have 2 autistic children........... Shels daughter, and my own daughter as well........... my son is adhd, but doing fantsatically well.........
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RHP User
14 years ago
Quoting 'mikeandshel'and Jensman...... hats off guys! well done for even bringing this subject up! ........... about bloody time someone posted a 'real world' topic too ! We have 2 autistic children........... Shels daughter, and my own daughter as well........... my son is adhd, but doing fantsatically well......... oops.....forgive my poor spelling peeps... its driven by too much 'American Honey'........... lol oops.........
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RHP User
14 years ago
My cousin is Autistic, I never really knew much about it before discovering his Autism, so thanks for raising awareness on here :)
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wannabyummymummy
14 years ago
To all parents of all special needs children Being a parent is hard at the best of times but for those with kids who are seriously Ill (been there not fun) or those with special needs it is a different ball game entirely!!Before i had kids of my own i admit to being one of those "obnoxious and opinionated" types who thought that just a bit of discipline would fix them LMAO i got mine that is for sure!!! (my daughter is quite the handful and discipline has not made an iota of difference) I now am much more enlightened and NEVER judge that kid in the supermarket throwing the tantrum instead i find it so much more effective to offer a supportive comment to the exhausted looking parent attached to said child or here's a thought actually ask them if they need a hand!!These kids are hard work but they need love and understanding not judgement just like all kids.Good on you Jennylee for raising awareness and being such a great mum
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RHP User
14 years ago
I'm all teary now.
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rupamohan
14 years ago
Just a caution that is a personal exp between 2 cpls and may not be representative between all aspic and all non aspic cpls. The issue we had was they had very poor appreciation of others. They had no idea of common understanding. They had own set of rules and own world beyond which nothing exsist. You have to do things strictly on their terms as they had no visibilty of others. Poor hygiene..I can only guess their sense of smell was weird. They had very good language skill literally very correct but topics and story didnt make much sense to us. They were touching and going thru our bodies like they are exploring a non living object. They were not aggresive nor rude!!!
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RHP User
14 years ago
...and something to remember is that we can not only help by donating money to help fund research and treatment for this and other good causes, but we can also donate our time and other resources as well. | If you ever get a chance to work with and help these children that are handicable...one smile alone makes it all worth while. Besides, it's nice to spend time with children who have a different view of a very complex and complicated world. | All the best to the parents of these children...you are miracles too.
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RHP User
14 years ago
Thanks for raising awareness about this important topic :)We are in the process of getting a diagnosis of aspergers for my son, and in the process my hubby realized that I also have aspergers...Ask me a year or so ago about autism, and I never would have found relevance to this differbility within my own family...It's been an eye opener and I only wish that the general population had a greater understanding of autism...
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RHP User
14 years ago
Handicapable is the word we use...unintended I assure you.
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missangelina
14 years ago
Great idea to publicise this!My nephew has Asperger's - one of the autism spectrum disorders. He is an intelligent and lovable teenager - I just worry that sometimes other people are unkind when not understanding him or when they see him as different.My hats off to all parents with kids who have special needs - you do the most amazing job.
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wannabyummymummy
14 years ago
Just wanted to make sure this stays as an active topic, nothing further to add
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RHP User
14 years ago
"Normal" can be a bit boring. Thankfully ours are all a bit different, including our 9yr old boy who's borderline Aspergers.Like all those above we've had some challenges but the positives far outweigh them - he's the friendliest kid and not a bad bone in his body. Thankfully he's had few problems yet with other kids but does get a bit confused about their behaviour sometimes - Aspergers types can struggle with expressing and understanding emotions. Teachers and other carers have been a different story and many have needed some training.It was interesting when the psychologist explained the condition and we realised that she was describing me! (Bit of an eye-opener isn't it Fun_2_gether - my childhood suddenly made a lot more sense). Also helped me understand and assist a couple of staff I managed (in highly technical roles where Aspergers types tend to thrive, but where their directness can also annoy less capable people).Thankfully for my son and I we've missed out on the most challenging traits and picked up some of the more interesting. I certainly feel for and have admiration for the parents coping with more pronounced ASD's. Our experience however has been that it's the less knowledgeable adults we deal with rather than the child that are the real challenge, so Jennylee thanks for raising some more awareness.Mr C
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rupamohan
14 years ago
Quoting 'chickcara' "Normal" can be a bit boring!!! Well I am not expert on this subject neither I have come across many austistic ppl, but my understanding is only very small number of autistic are compensated with high intelligence in other areas. I feel relating autism with intelligence is over simplified just to give some comfort to family. I do believe like many normals, many autistic are nice PPL. Will like to see some solid medical info shared here along with lots of personal experiences..
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RHP User
14 years ago
This is common with autistic children. The other day, he was in a bad mood and bit our bull terrier. Jennylee decided to keep him home so she phoned the school and told them. They thanked her.
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RHP User
14 years ago
My friend who has autism and was diagnosed as a child as having a very low IQ ,doesnt speak but types on a board.He has had poetry published ,plays performed and has the respect of his writing peers.He is now in his thirties and when young was so very angry at people because of the way he was treated.His life has changed significantly and he goes about in the world calmly and somewhat in control of those involuntary tics which most people reacted to with fear,and ignorance of his condition. He describes his autism as 'living in a glass cage', he sees the world a little differetly to me but takes delight in nature,the wind on his face,the rain on his skin,sand sifting through his hands. So please if you see someone who doesnt look or behave in a so called normal way please ,please dont think they are any less,intelligent than you. Because in some areas they are probably more so. An excellent book,although a little dated is 'An Anthropologist on Mars' by Oliver Sachs,he is a neurologist and talks about the interesting lives of people with ASD,including a family with Aspergers and, a scientist ,Temple Granden. xHugs H How am I qualified to talk about this subject?I have spent thirty years supporting people with disabilities mainly in the arts and am a Churchill fellow.Message me if you want to know more.
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RHP User
14 years ago
Quoting 'rupamohan' Quoting 'chickcara' "Normal" can be a bit boring!!! Well I am not expert on this subject neither I have come across many austistic ppl, but my understanding is only very small number of autistic are compensated with high intelligence in other areas. I feel relating autism with intelligence is over simplified just to give some comfort to family. I do believe like many normals, many autistic are nice PPL. Will like to see some solid medical info shared here along with lots of personal experiences.. Not sure that I said that? Definitely no expert here though, just going on personal experience with Aspergers rather than classic Autism and what I've learned since our son was born.The people I've known with Aspergers or tending towards it do have similar traits. Not necessarily higher intelligence, but more a need to focus on a particular interest until they master it. As they struggle with ambiguity and tend to be quite literal, these interests tend to be in technical, mathematical and other very rational pursuits.But that's just based on people I've known and met in my chosen career. ASD covers a wide range of challenges however so my experience may not be typical.Agree that factual medical info is great for awareness, but just personal experience and some casual learning available from me on this one.And I think "normal" and "average" are a bit boring in all their forms, not just the current topic, and not just relating to intelligence.Mr C
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RHP User
14 years ago
Thanks for the heads up jennylee I didn't realise. My uncle is autistic. He lived with my grandma where I spent most of my early childhood. He had a stroke a few years back and lost a lot of his mobility and his speech (which he rarely used). A fanatical cleaner and an prolific drawer of Queenslander type homes he would do in biro. They're not an easy style house to draw as they're so detailed. I had been at my grandma's since I was a baby and my uncle used to take me for walks around the streets. I went and viisited him the other day at the aged care home. Whenever I see him he laughs and looks at me in disbelief, and although he can't speak, I know he's saying "baby" as he remembers me. I get the same reaction every time I visit him. It gives me an instant happy injection no matter how I'm feelin. Cheers jennylee!
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