Even though April is National Autism Awareness Month, all year 'round we should be educating ourselves about what autism actually is and what it looks like. According to data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, autism occurs in about one in 44 children. That said, experts have recently realized that autism spectrum disorders are vastly under-diagnosed in girls in particular, because the screening criteria have been based on studies done almost exclusively in boys. For that reason, women tend to get autism diagnoses later in life, or may be misdiagnosed with other similar-presenting disorders like anxiety, depression or other mental health disorders.
Misconceptions about autistic people also run rampant, regardless of their gender, although we're starting to come around as a society. Far from the artistic savant stereotypes many people grew up with in media, autistic people can have a wide range of abilities and presentations just like anyone else. These quotes about autism push back on those stereotypes, and urge society to treat autistic people with respect and empathy.
Below, autistic people explain what it's like being them, how they want to be treated and what value they bring to society — give them a read, and share them with someone who might appreciate their perspectives too.
- Behavior is communication. Change the environment and behaviors will change. —Lana David
- I've listened enough. It's time for me to speak, however it may sound. Through an electronic device, my hands or my mouth. Now it's your time to listen. Are you ready? —Neal Katz
- Sometimes it is the people no one can imagine anything of who do the things no one can imagine. — Alan Turing
- I view 'autistic' as a word for a part of how my brain works, not for a narrow set of behaviors and certainly not for a set of boundaries of a stereotype that I have to stay inside. — Amanda Baggs
- English is my 2nd language. Autism is my first. — Dani Bowman
- Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible. —Frank Zappa
- Autism is as much a part of humanity as is the capacity to dream. — Kathleen Seidel
- We contain the shapes of trees and the movement of rivers and stars within us. —Patrick Jasper Lee
- Autists are the ultimate square pegs, and the problem with pounding a square peg into a round hole is not that the hammering is hard work. It's that you're destroying the peg.—Paul Collins
Good Housekeeping
- As soon as a child is capable of understanding, they will know they are different. Just as a diabetic needs insulin, an autistic child needs accommodations. The label gave me knowledge and self-awareness.—Steve Andrews
- Music therapy, equine therapy and art therapy are all "therapeutic" because they are a vibrational match. They have elements to them that your child can use at his current level of high-vibrational function to make sense of this lower vibrating world. — Suzy Miller
- Why should I cry for not being an apple, when I was born an orange? I'd be crying for an illusion; I may as well cry for not being a horse. — Donna Williams
- I am equal, loved, unique, purposed and worthy just because I am me. — Kris McElroy
- There are enough people in the world who are going to write you off. You don't need to do that to yourself. —Susan Boyle
