Autism Awareness Day

Today is worldwide Autism Awareness Day, and perhaps a time to reflect on how far we have come in understanding autism - and how far we have yet to go. There is so much we need to know to understand why there is such an increase in the incidence of autism. And so much planning to be done as the crest of the wave of young people with autism ages out of the school systems and still require services. 

This month, the April edition of the  magazine "The Advocate" of the Autism Society of America focuses on the lives and perspectives of people with ASD. One article "Accepting and Valuing Difference" deals with the mundane activities that are rarely mundane for persons with autism, work, families, and what is referred to as the "culture of autism."   The authors state that their hope is to offer information that might help the greater community to discover new ways to "integrate the information and perspectives we offer into their daily life and work, with the common purpose of building bridges of understanding across all segments of our autism community."

Because so many more people with autism are mainstreamed and/or participating in many more ways in their communities, it is incredibly worthwhile to hear from those who write of their own experiences with ASD. We all have much to learn as we try to be more inclusive of our differences, because in many ways, this will be how we, as a community, will best manage the huge numbers of people with autism.