Comments on: How Do You Wear Your Autism Awareness?

By: Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 14:40:15 +0000

I like to incorporate little things in my everday life involving Autism. I am a teenager with an Autisitc brother, I wear an Autism ribbon belly button ring. I also have a autism ribbon pin & autism speaks puzzle piece, I have placed these on my purse to show my love and passion for my brother and others. I work with autistic children in the summer and plan on becoming a Special Education teacher. People know so little about how big autism is. My brother is my hero and my inspiration.

By: MomtoJBG

MomtoJBG — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 04:14:51 +0000

I’m not crazy about the puzzle items, but I’d like a “Some of my favorite people are autistic” bumper-sticker if I could find one.

We had an incident at the airport yesterday when we dropped off a rental car. I didn’t feel I needed to explain anything (one twin screaming “Bye, bye, Hot Potato!” while the other twin plugged his ears and cried). Too bad Michael Savage guy wasn’t there to tell them to act like men!

By: sking

sking — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 19:20:01 +0000

FiveHumans, http://www.fivehumans.com/autism, offers a fashionable and unique autism shirt for men, women and kids. 10% of the sales price is donated to Autism Speaks. They also support other causes including heart disease, cancer and diabetes.

By: Kristina Chew, PhD

Kristina Chew, PhD — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 02:13:42 +0000

Also helpful is a quiet smile to further indicate, things are ok, we’re moving on.

By: hammie

hammie — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 22:22:49 +0000

I’ve always found that strapping a red flashing light to our heads helps.

Nah, not really. I take Boo almost everywhere and like Regan, as we live in a small seaside village, people are either used to us or too polite to comment. I have had major meltdowns in video shops and not an eyebrow was raised (or police called thankyou)
And we have had the scream-a-pillar in the local Health club pool; (Bratty has ADD and Autism and she took against a fan sound) And again, no eyebrows, no judgemental stares and just a quick “can I give you a hand?” from one of the desk staff as I rushed to get her out of there.
They were perfectly fine when we went back too.

I think like Cristina, Boo and Bratty are now tall enough to be quite different from what a child of that age should be like, and most people can work it out for themselves. And if they cannot and they hassle me; I kick box them to the ground and step over their lifeless bodies to the cheers of all bystanders who throw flowers as we make our exit………

By: Regan

Regan — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 18:17:28 +0000

Phil Schwarz,
Coincidence. We had the pleasure of listening to the Raventones and TR Kelley yesterday. Eleanor rocked out on the music, and TR Kelley gave a brief talk on Neurodiversity and gave the crowd a chance to purchase some buttons as fundraising.
If I had to buy something, I might get one of the “Autism Rocks” stickers or gear from KindTree productions, since they use the money for their projects. I prefer it to the puzzle stuff.
I guess our autism awareness is that where we go, Eleanor goes, and we go everywhere. I suspect that’s similar to lots of people. Back in the day when there were uncomfortable situations, after early on I guess my response and focus was mostly what made sense or we needed to do, and it’s probably impolite but I really didn’t notice other people that much.

By: Kristina Chew, PhD

Kristina Chew, PhD — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 16:30:14 +0000

I do kind of like that duck shirt too…..

By: farmwifetwo

farmwifetwo — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 11:41:42 +0000

I have a magnet for the van. Also, I’ve never hid the kids so their “quirks” are very normal at the bank, stores etc that we shop at.

I’ve had very kind people help us. I’ve had ignorant people make comments. The first are the majority, the 2nd usually shut up the moment I look at them and say “Haven’t you ever seen a child with autism before”… I’m not nice if you’re rude to me first, and I’m not embarrassed by my children, to call it as I see it.

By: sharon

sharon — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 11:03:05 +0000

I really like that duck shirt.

I have a couple of rainbow ribbon pins that I used to wear on my purse. I met a couple of other moms with them.

I don’t let people know about the autism unless it is necessary. Most can tell A is different by looking at him. Could it be him wearing his backpack in a grocery store and pointing out what kind of lights they have?

By: Phil Schwarz

Phil Schwarz — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 05:57:19 +0000

We have this bumper sticker on both of our cars. It was designed by TR Kelley of The Raventones, who gave a concert at Autreat 2006, and also led a workshop about the community in which they live.