Being this is April 2nd (World Autism Awareness Day), I want to post some thoughts on National Autism Awareness Month. I feel qualified to do so as I was in the board room with 14 others when Autism Awareness Month was created. I had a vote on it. I was the only person with autism who had a vote on it. I was the only person with autism who had anything to do with creating it.
That said, for the past several years I have stated that for me, Autism Awareness Month begins on April 3rd. That is true again this year. It makes me angry that autism speaks has turned April into a cash cow for themselves. That is not why I voted for it. I do not have problems with that organization for the same reason others with autism do, but I do have problems with them. Lately they are getting better. Maybe in another two or three years if they get it together I can actually start to support them. I’d like that. The more of us who are on the same side, the better it will be for everyone.
But for now, Autism Awareness Month for me begins the day after, on the 3rd. It continues for the rest of the year.
This year I am seeing a continuation of something I have seen the past few years and it is bothering me more than autism speaks. That would be people with autism (and a few parents) posting memes on Facebook that April is Autism Acceptance Month or today is World Autism Acceptance Day.
No. Just, NO.
First, let me be clear that I am all in favor of acceptance. I have been fighting for autism acceptance since before a lot of those people posting the memes were even born. So it is not acceptance I have a problem with. It is the way they are going about it.
Posting fake memes about a month that does not exist is not going to create autism acceptance. If anything, it will do just the opposite. People will read the memes and say, “Look at those crazy autistics, they don’t even know what month it is. What a bunch of idiots!” That doesn’t help anybody.
What will help create acceptance is creating awareness. This is why we have an awareness month and not an acceptance month. We in the boardroom named it “awareness month” for a reason. We knew that once we had the awareness, the acceptance would naturally follow. If there is not yet enough acceptance, it is only because there has not yet been enough awareness.
See how that works?
From the very beginning, it has been the nature of humanity to criticize and to fear what it does not understand. It is part of who we are. It always has been. The ways and behaviors of people with autism can seem alien to a lot of people who have never been exposed to things like that before. Seeing a young kid repeatedly bang his head against the wall or a pretty girl in her 20’s talk about nothing except Doctor Who for hours on end is not something you come across every day. There are reasons these and the other behaviors and symptoms of autism occur, and what we need is awareness. Once the awareness is there, people will be saying, “I get it. I understand it. I am able to accept it” – and we will have acceptance.
Posting memes demanding acceptance is not going to create acceptance. If you seriously believe it is, you need to go back to advocacy school. What will create acceptance is awareness. “This is what it is, this is why it is happening, this is what we can do about it.”
That awareness will create acceptance.
This is why we have an awareness month, not an acceptance month. We do not need an acceptance month. We need an awareness month.
So if you are one of these people out there on Facebook posting “Autism Acceptance Month” memes, I would encourage you to go out and spread some awareness. That is the only way we will ever achieve acceptance.