What Do You Think When You Hear the Word “Autism”?
May 31, 2007 by Kristina Chew, PhD
Filed under Health
When you hear or read or in any way encounter the word “autism,” what is your first thought?
Mine (as you probably guessed) is first of all my son, Charlie. Having studied ancient Greek for the better part of my life, my second thought is the Greek word autos, aute, auto, which is the etymological root of autism and means three things (self; same; he, she, it, they). After that, I think about the brain, difference, disability, and (perhaps this shows somewhat how my mind wanders) education and special education and schools. Charlie is different—one could say that there is something “different” about his neurology—and we need to figure out what we can do to best help him learn and grow.
In some other contexts, think autism and you hear about mercury, toxicity, Lupron (a drug which suppresses sex hormones), a train wreck, the legal disputes concerning the MMR and thimerasol, and conflicts of interest among doctors, judges, and others. Education, teaching, reading, writing, etc., get rather lost in all that and sometimes I think the real children with their real needs do, too.
I do not know what caused Charlie to have autism. Every day, I do get to know more about Charlie, and to know Charlie better. That is why my main focus is in teaching him, in getting to know the young person who is before me—-who was not happy this morning because, despite the temperature being in the high 80s today, he insisted on bringing his blue fleece pullover to school and we tried to urge him to leave at home. Jim and I know that Charlie prefers the old, established ways of doing things over and above than something new and we compromised: Charlie carried his “blue coat” wound up in a ball around his hands onto the bus.
And through the window we could see him sitting peaceful and easy, and the bus drove off.
When I hear “Autism” or “Aspergers” my heart warms up. I think of all the adults,teens and children that have blessed my life.
I can’t wait til we can all be called a”person” or “being” instead of a diagnosis or other labels.
I think it’s beautiful the way you talk about learning Charlie the way he is.. I have a student that loves his red fleece sweater year round also..He’s now let me hold it for him when we’re in P.E. or working. I feel that way about our students. I want to learn and teach our students as the being they are, not what others feel they should be. I know some times people forget that they are human beings not just their diagnosis.
I don’t feel doom and gloom about the future.
I feel very optimistic and ready for the future of new generations to come.
My youngest son was dx’d with Asperger’s 2 years ago. All I think of is how much of life I would have missed without him. (It was a tough pregnancy with lots of “iffy” moments). I have three other children, none of whom see the world in quite the same light – none of whom has taught me nearly so much about myself – about how far I could go, how hard I could work, how hard I could push – until this child.
I’ve learned what it means to be happy just to be here.
Kristina, on Monday here in my city of Perth, in the suburb of Lockridge an 18 year old autistic boy was viciously assaulted while travelling on a bus late Monday afternoon.
Luke Hawthorne was punched, kicked, and robbed of his mp3 player.
Luke loved travelling on the bus to his job in Bassendean, but understandably is now afraid.
He was sitting on the bus minding his own business, when he was attacked by two Aboriginal men.
It was a shameful and cowardly act.
I saw poor Luke on the news last night, with his mother, who is understandably terribly upset.
Luke was a happy independent and confident young man.
He catches three buses and a train each way to and from work at Activ Industries four days a week.
Who knows what long term effects he will now suffer.
I’m very… very… angry..
And… I feel so sad for that lovely young man, who seemed so bewildered, at such an unprovoked attack.
Honestly, it just makes me want to cry……
If you hear anything about catching the culprits please let me know—-what kind of person would do that?
I read this story about Luke Hawthorne.
http://www.thewest.com.au/default.aspx?MenuID=77&ContentID=30201
To start at the top:
When I hear the word “autism” I always wonder if I’m just slightly autistic, or just a weird normal person. The social defeats I’ve suffered incline me towards thinking I’m one of the former category.
About the thing in Perth: That’s just Godawful.
Ya think the Abos were operating on the “smaller monkey” program?
You know, people who’ve been beaten up upon, find someone whom they, too can beat up with impunity?
(It’s in “Stranger in a Strange Land” by R. A. Heinlein. I advert to the scene in the zoo where Michael Smith learns to laugh by observing the monkeys.)
If somebody asked me this question about two years ago, I would have replied that I think of ‘rainman’, as this movie was the only contact I had with autism by then. Today, after my son’s diagnosis, words like ‘autism’, ‘asprenger’, ’speech therapist’, ‘occupational therapist’ etc are in my everyday vocabulary. It is only now that I know that a child with autism is also a ‘child’. Now I know that people with autism have their own personalities, too, as the rest of us, ‘normal’ people do. Now I know that children with autism can get and give love, can be creative and funny and bring joy to their parents’ life, more than I could ever imagine. My little man is the light of my life. Every night, after an exhausting day trying to keep him ‘creatively’ busy, feed him properly, bring him in touch with as many people as possible, play with him, talk to him, I say to my husband how happy I am to have our son in our lives. Autism is a situation we have to live with, but we won’t let it define who my son is. He is a very beautyful, smart, imaginative boy and noone else is like him because he is UNIQUE!