Autism is its Own Culture
I spoke to a parent today of a young boy who is autistic. They described him as being a part of a completely different culture. I thought this was a great analogy and asked him to continue painting the picture for me. He said, “Imagine if someone turned off the gravity button and everyone started floating all of a sudden but he stayed on the ground and the whole time he is wondering, why isn’t everyone coming down??” Sometimes he looks at the rest of us and wonders why are we the way that we are.
I try to put myself in others’ shoes and when it came to this young boy it took me a lot of patience to truly understand his character over the past two years. Jack is a sweet and kindhearted 7 year old. He is incredibly smart and will always finish his work very quickly. He loves building LEGOS and putting together puzzles. While he is all of this and more, he also struggles with a few things. He has a hard time being social with other children. He can be extremely rude towards others. He can be hurtful with not showing any remorse towards his bad choices as well. He will scream and throw a fit if he doesn’t want to do something and is being told he has to. The other kids stare at him when he has these outbursts and usually try to ignore what’s going on. Sometimes Jack wants them to notice. I always remind the kids that we all have our good days and our bad days, each and every one of us. Kids are very perceptive and are able to understand certain situations better than adults at times. To them, Jack is just Jack. He is different and we are all different and that is ok.
Children from other countries come to the United States and it is a culture shock for them with all the differences they have to face. I tend to sympathize greatly with Non-English speakers because when they come into a new classroom, they feel lost and sometimes out of place. They usually are shy at first but definitely grow out of it and start to blossom before we know it. This process tends to show results a lot quicker with Non-English speakers at times compared to kids like Jack. He is being exposed to life every single day in a new way, and faces challenges just like the rest of us except his hurdles are a lot bigger. He has to be exposed to things prior to doing them so that he is prepared and knows how to react properly. . They are forced to try to fit in with our somewhat normal society yet they bring so many valuable things to us that would actually help our society. Autism too does bring something valuable to our society. They bring a love that is unlike anything out there.
Culture is a great way to expose all of us to what is out there in the world. We should take the time to learn about the rest of the world so that we can become better, kinder human beings ourselves. When I say we should learn about other cultures, I definitely want to include EVERY culture. To me that includes autism. We should become more aware with those who have autism and how to make them feel more included in this wild and crazy world. We should also accept them for who they are and embrace what they offer to us. I saw a great quote the other day by Maya Angelou, “We are more alike, my friends, than we are unalike.”