DISCLAIMER
Information disseminated by Autism South Africa is for information purposes only.
The onus rests with the reader to explore and investigate the relevant information and alternatives for each individual.
Information disseminated by Autism South Africa is for information purposes only.
The onus rests with the reader to explore and investigate the relevant information and alternatives for each individual.
Information sent out does not imply that Autism South Africa underwrites or endorses any particular therapy, intervention, method or medication. Autism South Africa assumes no responsibility for the use made of any information provided herein.
Autism and Oliver
A personal account
This site is dedicated to all parents and carers of children with autism
How To Understand People Who Are Different
by Brad Rand
When I learned to do sign language and use the computer in 1992, I was surprised that other people wanted to know how I think. I always wanted to learn how everybody else thinks because there are so many of you and I wanted to make myself like you so I could fit in your world.
But I learned that people wanted to know about me too, and when they learned how I thought and why I did things, they did things that weren't as confusing to me and I could understand them better. I learned that I could stay like me and still fit in your world, a little. So I decided it is better to stay like me and fit in a little, than become not like me and fit in a lot.
So this booklet is about me and other people who are different. But I only know how my mind works and how I think, so maybe some of the other people who are different are a lot different, or maybe some of them are a lot the same, or maybe some of them are a little the same.
People who are different are never different in the same way. Every one of those people has some gift, like understanding animals or running very fast, or some talent, like drawing or music or math or creating songs or poems or stories, or some skill, like putting puzzles or models together, or something about the way they talk or look or move or understand things that makes them special.
People who are different may not understand how to talk to other people, or how to act the right way at all the right times, or how to understand feelings, or how to sort out all the sights and sounds and smells in the world, but they are still special because there is just one of them, like there is just one of you.
Donna Williams' Personal Space
Hi ! Welcome to my Donna-ville. So who's Donna Williams?
'I' was born in the rock and roll years of the 1960's, in the inner city of urban Australia in the days when 'autism' was unheard of even though the condition had always existed.
FRUIT SALAD
We are all more than a condition, a jumbled jigsaw, an Autism 'fruit salad'. Nevertheless, here's some of mine.
I grew up in a family with more challenges than my own and spent most of my first 26 years on fairly continuous antibiotics with undiagnosed food intolerances, food allergies, blood sugar problems, nutrient deficiencies and primary immune deficiencies. I was echolalic until late childhood and lived with agnosias: a degree of meaning deafness, meaning blindness, faceblindness, difficulty to process my body messages or emotions. I unable to answer a direct question, to stay sitting in a seat, to hand in any work or verbally acknowledge what I did or didn't understand.
In 1965, aged 2 years old, I was admitted for a three day hospital observation at St Elmo's Private Hospital in Brunswick, Victoria. I was to be tested for deafness and Leukemia (I had constant infections, easy bruising, bleeding gums, my eyelashes would come out in clumps). I also had a stomach tensing and compulsive coughing tic (Tourette's) that compelled me to the point I was coughing blood, appeared deaf, stared through everyone and everything and showed no response to pain. My parents were told I wasn't deaf and didn't have Leukemia. According to my father, the doctors had, instead, assessed that I was psychotic. In 1965 the 2-5 year old children who today would be diagnosed with autism, were often instead deemed 'psychotic'.
10 THINGS AN AUTISTIC ADULT WISHES YOU KNEW
1. I am autistic, not just an adult with autism. It is part of who I am.
Autism is a part of who I am. I was born this way.
Autism is a part of who I am. I was born this way.
I would not choose to change that. Acknowledging my autism as a part of me is entirely compatible with respecting me as a person with thoughts, feelings, and talents. I am a human being like everyone else and deserve the same dignity and respect that any one else deserves. Please consider whatever term I prefer and do not use language that suggests I suffer from an unfortune disease.
2. Autism is a neurological variation, not a disease, or mental illness.
Autism often includes differences in social behavior and practical skills.
My behaviors and learning styles might vary. My perceptions may differ. I may learn and understand things in way thats different and process the world in a different way. Please do not judge me or other autistics for our differences.
2. Autism is a neurological variation, not a disease, or mental illness.
Autism often includes differences in social behavior and practical skills.
My behaviors and learning styles might vary. My perceptions may differ. I may learn and understand things in way thats different and process the world in a different way. Please do not judge me or other autistics for our differences.