Thursday, April 03, 2008

• April is autism awareness month.

  
  I'm sure you've noticed my new colorful, clean theme. It's no CynaraJane creation, but it does what it is intended to do: promote autism awareness. As some of you have guessed, the reason behind my interest in autism is personal. I grew up closely with someone who is on the autism spectrum. My younger sister has Asperger's syndrome.
  
  I don't tend to blog about private matters, but perhaps my offering here today may serve to educate and enlighten those who would otherwise remain bewildered, ignorant, or even cruel to those who differ from themselves in a manner.
  
  Autism is one of five classified pervasive developmental disorders. Asperger's syndrome is another. Approximately 6 in 1000 people are somewhere on the autism spectrum. Children are generally diagnosed as toddlers. The most noticeable signs of Autism are late-developing use of language or a complete lack of language development, repetitive use of words or repetitive hand movements, little to no eye contact, lack of interest in peer relationships, lack of spontaneous or make-believe play, and a persistent fixation on parts of objects.
  
  Signs of Asperger's syndrome are difficulty reciprocating during conversations, i.e., those with Asperger's see "their turn to talk" as seemingly never-ending. My sister fails to grasp the pragmatic aspect of a conversation. She will share endless facts with me, because she sees talking as a method of communicating information only, not sharing thoughts, emotions, or feelings. She displays difficulties with topic appropriateness, and knowing when to end the conversation. Her vocal pitch and stress is frequently different from people with normal conversational capabilities. I have learned to live with the fact that she can not "tone down" her voice.
  
  Those with Asperger's have a narrow field of interests, and they dominate that field of interest. My sister can tell you the Latin names for thousands of plants, insects, small animals, and fish. She can list growing conditions, feeding instructions, ingredients in a plant food or a fish food. She knows where the specimen is indigenous to, and how it came to be in other places. She can not recognize movie stars or rock bands. She can not tell you who the President is.
  
  Asperger's children have mindblindness, which is the inability to make inferences about what another person is thinking. My sister has difficulty empathizing with others, and will often say what she thinks without considering another's feelings.
  
  It was difficult to include my sister during play activities when we were children. She didn't want to play the same way I did. She was content to study bugs and small snakes, frogs, and lizards. I couldn't share my thoughts with her. She would rather stare intently at a wall for hours, examining the texture. She never brought home friends.
  
  When we were teenagers, she never dated. She wasn't interested in hearing about my dating experiences, either.
  
  She graduated in 2002. She has never recovered from her school experience. Every day, she would walk home quietly in tears, all of her school books in her pack. She could not concentrate in school, so she brought all of her work home with her to do. The children threw things at her. Little things, like spit wads, pieces of chewed gum, and pencils. Big things, like their shoes or books or rocks. They kicked her and pushed her. They knocked her books out of her arms. They called her names. She stopped riding the school bus, and walked home instead. She was tired of being tripped down the aisle. One day, someone tried to run her down with their car after school let out. The next day, I went down to the school, some, ahh, violent things happened, and the police removed me from school property. No one was gonna hurt my little sister ever again, because they'd regret it.
  
  My sister will be 25 on April 22nd. She won't let anyone touch her. I have gotten her comfortable with giving me hugs. She will tell me she loves me. I know she does, in the way that she knows how. She shares her information with me. I have learned to keep and care for fish and plants. This way, we can have something to talk about. Rather, I can listen with interest when she talks. Her knowledge keeps my pets alive. Her experiences keep my heart alive.
  
  There are several great places on the web which serve to more thoroughly educate you on autism and Asperger's syndrome. There is no need to abuse someone different from you. No one person is the same, why should anyone with any type of condition be treated any different from you or anyone else? We all have our conditions. Some of them are simply more apparent than others. I find that people tend to do one of two things when they encounter something they don't understand: they ignore it, or they ridicule it.
  
  Try learning about it. Try exploring a new way of thinking. Try caring.
  
  

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