World Autism Awareness Day

I see Autism as a language that only a handful of people have the privilege to speak. The rest of us are just trying to decode the message they are here to deliver.

When you put any group of people who don’t speak the same language together in a room, you won’t be able to avoid irritation, frustration, and especially miscommunication.

With all languages, things may get lost in translation. Therefore, we need to learn how to interpret properly.

When someone who falls somewhere on the spectrum loves building puzzles, we might use certain terms such as obsession. But if someone else enjoys sitting for hours while building a puzzle, we might call it discipline. It is the exact same task. Yet, the words we use vary depending on our perception of the disability.

Adjusting the words we use with those who have autism might just change the way we look at them. And maybe, just maybe, we might learn another language only a few get to speak.

What a privilege it would be to understand and become fluent in this language!