Autism: Lighting The World With Kindness
Understanding, Accepting, and Connecting to Those Who Live Within The Spectrum
Spectrum – A condition that is not limited to a specific set of values, but one that can vary without steps across a vast continuum. Put another way, it’s something that keeps growing, and changing over time, while slowly breathing in new life. No matter how one looks at life, in one way or another, we all live within a spectrum. This range of life we live is a mixture of tiny bits of everything our lives consist of. It has differentiations, changes, and assumptions. It has understanding, conclusions, emotions, morals, and ethics, and it has our learnings as well as our mistakes.
If you’ve ever encountered a person diagnosed with ASD, you’ve met autism head-on. Autistic individuals are wonderfully unique, bright, and benevolent, but while the challenges they face with their families, schools, and the public are diverse, they deserve our utmost recognition and respect. Issues that are of particular relevance from the first day of diagnosis are only the beginning of a world full of unexpected challenges at a time when their parents’ lives and daily routines are sometimes explosively uprooted.
The world can be a scary place for everyone, but more so for those with autism and other developmental disorders. Just knowing that they are recognized, loved, and accepted, will encourage them to lead fuller and more meaningful lives as an integral part of society. It’s time to celebrate, hearten, accept, and understand those who we assume to be “different” from us.
Showing kindness and genuine concern will, over time, correct any illusions, assumptions, and conclusions we’ve made about these extraordinary human conditions. Let’s face it, we’re equals, we’re just different, and we need one another. No one, despite any physical or emotional differences, should ever be excluded from living a meaningful life. Spending time with someone with sensory pervasive development will allow us a rare look inside the autistic mind and an entry into an entirely unknown but extraordinary world. By listening to their voices, cues, and prompts, we can only begin to understand the complex echoes of altruism while permitting us to stretch our own vision of what it means to be human.
It will astound you, ground you, and they will feel much less alone.
“Welcome to a new and unlatched world of self-sacrifice.”
“Help unlock autism, it will unlock you”
We may never understand how a person with Autism sees the world. They are the only ones that can answer that. I have come to believe that they see the beauty of the world around them in a completely different way and that their vision of the world is completely beyond our comprehension. To them, the most important things in their world are invisible to the eye. When a color is vivid or a shape catches their eyes, it is only that which claims their attention, and then their hearts drown in it, and they can’t concentrate on anything else. If you have spent time with someone on the spectrum, then it would make perfect sense to you. When Autism speaks, we need to listen!
By clicking on (contact) on the menu bar, will have an opportunity to send in your thoughts, stories, and comments, while perhaps in some small way, feeling a deeper connection with others who share the world with those living their daily lives on the autism spectrum.
Please try to limit your response to under 500 words.
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts and experiences with others who are gaining a strong understanding, acceptance, and curiosity about the mysterious and absorbing world of autism and the people who live within its boundaries.
Naomi
What an enlightening and meaningful message! I have always told my children and grandchildren that they should never be judgmental. They should explore friendships and relationships so that they don’t miss out on any valued experiences. It’s human nature to fear the unknown but with continuous awareness we can all learn about and accept our differences. As ASD becomes an every day conversation we should acknowledge how we are alike and not accentuate the differences. Happy Grandparents Day!!