This school year I am participating in a public speaking class at my local college. We have been assigned to speak about something that we fell passionate about. For me, that is Autism and Aspergers. I plan on educating my audience about the change in the diagnosis label. In 2012 there will no longer be any such thing as Asperger Syndrome, but everything will be autism.
I don't know if any of you have ever heard the phrase If you have seen one person with Autism, you have only seen one person with Autism. That statement is true so therefore everyone who has Autism is a snowflake. I got this analogy from an article that I had to retrieve for citations for my formal presentation. That one statement that everyone with Aspergers is a snowflake caught my eye. I thinks its catchy and I really like it. Its also a lot easier than saying that whole long phrase I put in Italics.
There is one very important part about the snowflake though. I feel this is powerful because, I am someone who has Asperger and mine is Atypical or so I have been told. I have always been told that I am not the poster child for someone who has Autism, but I don't fit the criteria for anything else and it gets me services. The snowflake theory just goes to show you how intricate Autism is.
I am a snowflake, but I know a lot of them too. I have personality, many with autism don't. I have a friend who has the ability to memorize scripts from Spongebob, but I can't do that. I am sensitive to noise, but I have a friend that is sensitive to touch. That same friend is interested in comics and I am interested in disabilities. The person who is interested in spongebob seems to have no sensitivities that I am aware of. We are all unique and we should all be treated uniquely, but the same.
When I say we should all be treated uniquely, but the same, I am talking about the term "normal". This snowflake theory just goes to show that no one is normal. People say that individuals with Autism aren't normal, well were not normal to each other either. There is not such thing as normal and I think that word should be cut out of our vocabulary just like retarted is.
do me a favor!!! Don't use the word normal and don't think about people with autism as snowflakes. think about everyone as snowflakes. I know I went into details about aspies being snowflakes, but that was an explanation. Thanks
No comments:
Post a Comment