Skunk Hair, Autism and Social Understanding

August 13, 2014Autism and Aging, Autistic "Behavior", Hidden Curriculumadmin

There is a saying, “love makes the world go round,” but for real it is NOT love. Instead, it is the hidden curriculum that makes the world go round! Hidden curriculum is all that social information that most people know even though they were never actually taught it. An example is the rule “don’t pick your nose” with the hidden curriculum being it is perfectly fine to pick your nose as long as nobody sees you doing it. Many people with autism have difficulty with hidden curriculum. Their brains are not wired to allow them to automatically pick up this untaught, unspoken social information. This has all sorts of consequences from embarrassing to serious (job loss). I had to intentionally learn lots of hidden curriculum before I could feel a part of the world going round.

Sometimes getting caught in a situation of unknown hidden curriculum is quite embarrassing in the moment, but later makes a funny story. Because hidden curriculum is so important and because people generally remember things that cause them to laugh, I am going to tell you a funny story.

One time I accompanied my friend Kate to a doctor appointment. Before leaving Kate had to go for a blood test. The woman in the lab had the most beautifully unusual hair. It was shoulder length jet-black hair parted down the center with about a one-inch pure white outgrowth from the center part. As Kate turned in her paper work and we took a seat I said, “What beautiful skunk hair!”

Kate shushed me and whispered, “Wait ‘til we’re done here.” So I did. After leaving the lab Kate had to schedule another appointment at the front desk. While standing there waiting in a different section of the building, i.e. “being done here” as in – now being done in the lab – I again commented, “I really liked that woman’s skunk hair.”

Again, Kate shushed me, this time telling me to whisper. Just then the appointment secretary was ready to schedule with her so I thought it best to wait. I went out to the car. When Kate got in the car I dutifully whispered, “I just loved that woman’s skunk hair. Did you?”

Kate asked, “Why are you whispering?”

I replied, “You told me to whisper.”

This example clearly illustrates the hidden curriculum variable of changing circumstances in that each time Kate gave me a directive I complied. It didn’t work well because each time I complied we were at a new location. I also am not very good at modulating my voice, which Kate picked up on and attempted to help me compensate by instructing me to whisper. By the time I did so we were in the car and there was no longer any need to whisper. And only then did Kate explain that even though I love the black and white contrast of skunk hair most people would interpret my compliment as derogatory.

In the past eight years since this incident happened I have intentionally learned as much hidden curriculum as possible. I have written about my journey and about the various strategies I have tried along the way. If you would like to read about my quest please see Learning the Hidden Curriculum: The Odyssey of One Autistic Adult.

I went on to co-author (with Brenda Smith Myles and Malcolm Mayfield) a second book very important to autistic adults and employment called The Hidden Curriculum of Getting and Keeping a Job: Navigating the Social Landscape of Employment.

Oh, the possibilities in a new day dawning!

BOOKS BY JUDY ENDOW

Endow, J. (2019).  Autistically Thriving: Reading Comprehension, Conversational Engagement, and Living a Self-Determined Life Based on Autistic Neurology. Lancaster, PA: Judy Endow.

Endow, J. (2012). Learning the Hidden Curriculum: The Odyssey of One Autistic Adult. Shawnee Mission, KS: AAPC Publishing.

Endow, J. (2006).  Making Lemonade: Hints for Autism’s Helpers. Cambridge, WI: CBR Press.

Endow, J. (2013).  Painted Words: Aspects of Autism Translated. Cambridge, WI: CBR Press.

Endow, J. (2009).  Paper Words: Discovering and Living With My Autism. Shawnee Mission, KS: AAPC Publishing.

Endow, J. (2009).  Outsmarting Explosive Behavior: A Visual System of Support and Intervention for Individuals With Autism Spectrum Disorders. Shawnee Mission, KS: AAPC Publishing.

Endow, J. (2010).  Practical Solutions for Stabilizing Students With Classic Autism to Be Ready to Learn: Getting to Go. Shawnee Mission, KS: AAPC Publishing.

Myles, B. S., Endow, J., & Mayfield, M. (2013).  The Hidden Curriculum of Getting and Keeping a Job: Navigating the Social Landscape of Employment. Shawnee Mission, KS: AAPC Publishing.

Originally written for and published by Ollibean on May 9, 2014

Crossing Sign Conundrums

August 9, 2014Autism and Aging, Growing Up Autistic, Hidden Curriculumadmin

Over the course of my life I have seen many kinds of crossing signs. When I go to a college campus I drive past a wildlife sanctuary where a duck crossing sign is posted. Each spring mama ducks line up near their sign and lead their babies across the road while the cars waited. There were lots of ducks and some days the wait for motorists can be up to ten minutes.

Every winter when I drive along a county highway to visit a friend I see a snowmobile crossing sign. A snowmobile trail is on one side of the road. A restaurant is on the opposite side of the road. Snowmobile club members cross the road at their sign and then park their snowmobiles at the restaurant while they are inside.

One summer a new sign was erected by the fire station. It announced to all that indeed the fire trucks would be crossing the road as they came out of the fire station. I personally thought the sign was not necessary. After all the fire trucks had no choice. They had to cross the road when coming out of the station

When my son went to college I discovered several pedestrian crossing signs on his campus. During passing time students would cross at their sign, often in hoards and most of the time seeming oblivious to drivers. They definitely knew they had the right of way!

As a visual thinker who has learned this pattern to crossing signs I really do not appreciate the incongruence school crossing signs impose on my schema. The school is not crossing the road. The children are crossing the road to get to school. This has bugged me all my adult life. I have rationalized to myself that the reason they do not have a children crossing sign or a student crossing sign is because sometimes teachers, parents or other grown ups may cross the road at the sign. Even so, to be in sync and not upset my schema of crossing signs, the correct sign in my opinion would be a pedestrian crossing sign. I understand that school zones are treated differently by law in terms of motorist speeding and fines and thus it seems logical to draw attention to the school zone with a school crossing sign, but to my visual schema this sign is just plain wrong! Do you ever see a school crossing the road by a school crossing sign? I don’t.

A sign that is even worse than the school crossing sign is the deer crossing sign. Even though deer actually do cross the road, they do not cross the road at their sign! I am sure everyone in the world will agree with me on this one. For real – who has ever seen deer, either a single one or an entire herd – line up at their sign to cross the road? It is obvious that deer cannot read. Too bad because if the deer could read perhaps we would not have to see so many of them lying by the side of the road after finding misfortune with a vehicle. Has anyone ever seen one of these deer lying next to their crossing sign? I haven’t. More evidence. Deer do not read. Deer do not cross at their sign. These signs really irritate me – and in Wisconsin where I live it seems of all the crossing signs erected deer have the most.

Something happened recently to inform me. I read a newspaper article that explained these signs. According to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, deer crossing signs have been erected in places where there have been several deer-motorist mishaps to warn drivers of deer in the area.

Ahhh…the deer crossing signs are not for the deer! They are for the motorist. Hmmm…the snowmobilers read and cross at their sign. That has got to be helpful for them, but the sign is for the motorist. In fact, all the crossing signs are for the motorist! Thanks to my local news crossing signs now make sense to me.

And this just goes to show that no matter how old you are – autism or not – it is never too late to learn new things (Endow, 2012). Therefore, please refrain from predicting what your child with autism will never learn or will never be able to do when he grows up. The predictions made about me as an institutionalized youngster simply were not true. It took me longer to grow up than it takes most people, but I continued learning well past my school years. In fact, as an autistic woman in her late fifties I continue to learn new things and, in turn, live more comfortably in the world around me.

Painting is Morning-Chirp Sun Girl
Available in sets of 5 greeting cards
and acrylic prints in three sizes
in the Art Store at www.judyendow.com

BOOKS BY JUDY ENDOW

Endow, J. (2019).  Autistically Thriving: Reading Comprehension, Conversational Engagement, and Living a Self-Determined Life Based on Autistic Neurology. Lancaster, PA: Judy Endow.

Endow, J. (2012). Learning the Hidden Curriculum: The Odyssey of One Autistic Adult. Shawnee Mission, KS: AAPC Publishing.

Endow, J. (2006).  Making Lemonade: Hints for Autism’s Helpers. Cambridge, WI: CBR Press.

Endow, J. (2013).  Painted Words: Aspects of Autism Translated. Cambridge, WI: CBR Press.

Endow, J. (2009).  Paper Words: Discovering and Living With My Autism. Shawnee Mission, KS: AAPC Publishing.

Endow, J. (2009).  Outsmarting Explosive Behavior: A Visual System of Support and Intervention for Individuals With Autism Spectrum Disorders. Shawnee Mission, KS: AAPC Publishing.

Endow, J. (2010).  Practical Solutions for Stabilizing Students With Classic Autism to Be Ready to Learn: Getting to Go. Shawnee Mission, KS: AAPC Publishing.

Myles, B. S., Endow, J., & Mayfield, M. (2013).  The Hidden Curriculum of Getting and Keeping a Job: Navigating the Social Landscape of Employment. Shawnee Mission, KS: AAPC Publishing.

Originally written for and published by Ollibean on March 6, 2014

Over 50, Autistic and Still Learning!

August 7, 2014Autism and Aging, Sensory Solutionsadmin

Recently, I went to the Genius Bar at the Apple Store near my house with my laptop. It reminded me of just how far I have come in regards to technology in a few short years. It is hard to believe that I lived a half century on this planet before becoming versed in sending and receiving email! In 2005, my oldest, David, set up a Hotmail account for me and taught me how to do email. I had read an autism book and wanted to email the author. In a few months I had a few more people to email. It snow balled. Today email is my main source of communication with most others and I receive over 200 emails most days!

This is no small feat because computers are hard for me even though I now use a computer most of my waking hours for one purpose or another. Because of my sensory differences I have learned to dim the brightness of the screen. Additionally, I need to do my computer work in a particular way. Too much scrolling makes me nauseous and even though I am able to click the mouse at lightening speed I refrain from doing so as a rapid successions of changes to the appearance of the screen causes a dizzy, spinning feeling in my body. I get a lot accomplished every day using my computer, but do so with a steady rhythm and pace. I also use lots of ink cartridges for my printer because I print out rather than scroll through most documents. It takes a bit of figuring out, but I have a system down that serves me well.

Shortly after becoming comfortable with email I asked my oldest son to pick out one new thing to show me online. He showed me how to use Google. I began looking up info on all sorts of things. I discovered Google images! It has some similarities to the way my brain works popping up images in relationship to word input. Whoever constructed that system must understand how an autistic mind works!

In 2006 my first book,Making Lemonade, Hints for Autism’s Helpers, was published. I was getting invited to speak and wanted to learn how to make the pictures that speakers put up on screens for their audience to see. I asked around, found out this was called Power Point and googled “how to make power points.” That is how it happened that in 2006 my first book was published and my first power point was constructed. I still use that power point today even though I have learned ever so much more about power points since that time.

I do not especially like talking on the phone. My children all had cell phones, but it was not something I especially wanted for myself. As my business picked up I found myself out of town more often. My youngest was a senior in high school and I wanted to be able to check in with him when he got home from school and I was out of town. I wound up getting a cell phone. In fact, my son Daniel and I got the very same cell phones on a family talk plan. He had his phone all set up with all his friend’s names and numbers programed before I even had the instruction book read. Daniel uses his cell phone for many other things such as an alarm clock, to play games, to take pictures and he has his phone set up to ring differently depending on who is calling him. This was beyond me at the time. It was enough for me to use my first cell phone simply to call someone. In fact, I didn’t even like using a cell phone, but did so out of necessity.

2006 was a big year for change in my life. My youngest son went off to college. This necessitated another technology change in my life. I sent the family computer of to college with Daniel and got a new laptop for myself. I needed a laptop because of presenting, but just hated learning new technology. Even so, I discovered some really nice things about a laptop. First of all, the lighting behind the screen is much different than on a desktop computer! This increased my efficiency drastically! It enables me to use a computer for many hours at a time rather than 30-45 minutes before needing a break. Because I do not get reliable sensory feedback through my fingertips, it is very inefficient for me to use the scroll pad on my laptop. Instead, I must use a mouse.

My business expanded. I needed to be able to keep on while on the go. Once again, technology was the answer. In the summer of 2009 I got a Blackberry. It took me two weeks to read the instruction book and figure it out. Each day I forced myself to do something with my Blackberry so I could become used to using it. In 2013 I got an iPhone and it didn’t even come with an instruction book! Today I use it for email, social media, to take pictures, play games and to talk on the phone. A really great thing about the camera feature is that I can take pictures with ease because it does not jolt my sensory system in the way that cameras with flashes do.

I have learned to use both my iPhone and my laptop for many things. I learned to use Facebook as a way to keep in touch with my children. Today it has become a tool for keeping up with many in the autism community. Imagine a person with autism who has had difficulty making friends all her life now having over 4000 Facebook friends from around the world! I post many autism related articles on my Facebook page. Be sure to send me a friend request if we are not yet Facebook friends!

I made a new kind of Power Point to use in my presentations. I constructed automatically advancing slides using images and words on the slides and then learned how to imbed music background. The production is called The Power of Words: How we talk about people with autism spectrum disorder matters! In 2009 it became published as a DVD (AAPC, 2009). This DVD won the 2010 Mutimedia Award from Autism Society of America.

In 2010 I decided I wanted to construct a web site. So I googled “how to make a web site” and read up on it. I chose a website company and started following the online instruction tutorial. I made a five page website called www.judyendow.com. Each month I update the Calendar of Events page with my new speaking engagements and change whatever else might need to be changed. Today, this original website has morphed into something much larger and includes an Art Store with my paintings along with frequent blog postings.

In 2011 I became the owner of a mac laptop! It took me several months to get used to using it and caused much anxiety. One would think with all the new technology experiences I’ve outlined that I would be able to take new technology in stride without the high anxiety. Not so. Each new technology I set out to learn poses great difficulty for me in terms of becoming familiar with it. Many people on the autism spectrum find technology to be their friend. Not me. Most difficulty is due to the scrolling screen technology. It makes me physically sick to my stomach and I become too dizzy to be able to have the balance required to walk across the room. This is very unfortunate because it means I am missing out on some technology that could potentially be helpful to me. I am also grateful because it narrows down the scope of new technology I need to learn.

Even though I can listen on a conference call and sometimes talk, they are difficult for me. As a board member of Autism National Committee I have learned to use a group chat feature online that is used for board meetings. Nobody talks. It levels the playing field because some in our group can’t talk. In my work with Autistic Global Initiative (AGI) I have learned to use both individual and group Skype on my new mac. The group Skype allows me to see each person. Some of us talk and some of us type using the chat feature. It works well in terms of not having too much speaking going on. All of us in AGI are on the spectrum and between us have a wide range and variance of communication challenges. The group Skype and Go To Meeting sorts of technology have been quite helpful.

Nearly everyone I know is better at technology than I am. But that is okay. I know how to make appointments at the Genius Bar! In conclusion, I have in a few short years learned so many new techy things I have decided that for me personally, my 50’s will be deemed “The Decade of Technology!” Some new things I want to learn before I turn 60 include producing webinars and You Tube clips. Good thing I have a few years left – plenty of time!

I used my iPhone to take this picture
while out for my early morning walk today!

BOOKS BY JUDY ENDOW

Endow, J. (2019).  Autistically Thriving: Reading Comprehension, Conversational Engagement, and Living a Self-Determined Life Based on Autistic Neurology. Lancaster, PA: Judy Endow.

Endow, J. (2012). Learning the Hidden Curriculum: The Odyssey of One Autistic Adult. Shawnee Mission, KS: AAPC Publishing.

Endow, J. (2006).  Making Lemonade: Hints for Autism’s Helpers. Cambridge, WI: CBR Press.

Endow, J. (2013).  Painted Words: Aspects of Autism Translated. Cambridge, WI: CBR Press.

Endow, J. (2009).  Paper Words: Discovering and Living With My Autism. Shawnee Mission, KS: AAPC Publishing.

Endow, J. (2009).  Outsmarting Explosive Behavior: A Visual System of Support and Intervention for Individuals With Autism Spectrum Disorders. Shawnee Mission, KS: AAPC Publishing.

Endow, J. (2010).  Practical Solutions for Stabilizing Students With Classic Autism to Be Ready to Learn: Getting to Go. Shawnee Mission, KS: AAPC Publishing.

Myles, B. S., Endow, J., & Mayfield, M. (2013).  The Hidden Curriculum of Getting and Keeping a Job: Navigating the Social Landscape of Employment. Shawnee Mission, KS: AAPC Publishing.

Originally written for and published by Ollibean on February 26, 2014

Inclusion – How it Works Best for This Autistic

August 2, 2014Activism/Advocacy, Autism and Aging, Growing Up Autistic, Social Considerationsadmin

As an autistic, I sometimes feel boxed in by the best practice strategy of inclusion. Please don’t get me wrong – inclusive education is a very good thing! Historically, people with disabilities were not given access to public education. Then, over time, laws changed. Today we have special ed classrooms in our schools and the progressive schools practice inclusion.

Today’s Inclusive Education
Inclusion means that all the students get to learn in the general ed environment. Instruction is differentiated while physical, sensory, emotional and every other need of each student is taken into consideration so that all students learn together, each one doing and being his very best self. Inclusion allows each student to belong to the community of his peers.

My Personal Take on Inclusion
I love the idea of inclusion. It is right and good. It is very important. AND sometimes this setup doesn’t work well for me. I am not able to access my thoughts and words in real time. Even a quiet environment, with several people in the same room does not necessarily allow me access to those people or even to my own thoughts. Sometimes this sort of situation can propel me into shutdown or meltdown.

In fact, now that I have access to the typical world and experience an inclusive adult life in my community I am discovering that I don’t always want to participate in the typical world. If inclusion is good and right then why is this?

A Breadth of Inclusive Experience
As I ponder this question for myself as an autistic, I realize that the world is run according to the majority. This means a neurotypical (NT) brain is what is behind the conventional constructs of our society. Inclusion looks the way inclusion works for the NT majority. Inclusive opportunities and indeed, all of inclusive education and life, happens via NT style. It is what we have. It works for NTs and it even works for me some of the time. It allows a breadth to inclusive experiences.

A Depth of Inclusive Experience
But at other times I need to honor my autistic neurology. While I love being part of the everyday fabric of life in my community, I also need to spend time living my life with other autistics. This is where I find the depth of inclusion my heart and soul searched for my whole life. It feels like home to me. It is the place where I do not need to inhibit my natural noises, flaps and extraneous movements and moans. I do not need to be mindful of the hundreds of social rules of NT society. I am free to be my true self. My autistic friends do not judge my intelligence, my potential contribution or my human worth by my unconventional mannerisms. I belong, just as I am in my natural state, accepted and loved for my whole self – not just for my NT look-alike self.

The Breadth, the Depth and the Importance of Choice
And still, for me it is quite important to know how to get along in the world at large. I love the freedom of being able to walk in and out of any place in my community and fit in so as to appear to belong. I love being able to take my place in the world at large. I am grateful to have this choice because it hasn’t always been this way in our world.

Additionally, a different and just as valid inclusion comes from the community of my autistic friends where all of me – including autistic traits and mannerisms – are understood and cherished. This is the place where I have the most fluid access to the best of my being, likely because I do not have to inhibit my natural autistic self. To me this is a treasured wonder.

From A History of Marginalization
At the end of the day, I ponder the inclusion situation through history. Being “othered” most of my life in “special” settings never felt like inclusion to me. It felt like being shoved to out of the way places of “less than.” Then later, given only the opportunity for inclusion only NT style I was left wanting and longing for something I did not understand. It wasn’t until I had both that I felt I was no longer an alien, but truly belonged in this world.

To a Future of Comprehensive Inclusion
I believe we may come to discover in the future that to thrive and to be all that we can be, we autistics will need both the breadth of NT inclusion and the depth of autistic inclusion – two distinct and equally important styles of inclusion. As autistics, we also need to be empowered to choose how this mix best works for us in our given autistic bodies. My needs wax and wane over time, but it remains constant that to love and to be loved I need access to both inclusive environments and to be able to choose the mix that serves me best. This allows me to belong and to participate fully in the human race.

BOOKS BY JUDY ENDOW

Endow, J. (2019).  Autistically Thriving: Reading Comprehension, Conversational Engagement, and Living a Self-Determined Life Based on Autistic Neurology. Lancaster, PA: Judy Endow.

Endow, J. (2012). Learning the Hidden Curriculum: The Odyssey of One Autistic Adult. Shawnee Mission, KS: AAPC Publishing.

Endow, J. (2006).  Making Lemonade: Hints for Autism’s Helpers. Cambridge, WI: CBR Press.

Endow, J. (2013).  Painted Words: Aspects of Autism Translated. Cambridge, WI: CBR Press.

Endow, J. (2009).  Paper Words: Discovering and Living With My Autism. Shawnee Mission, KS: AAPC Publishing.

Endow, J. (2009).  Outsmarting Explosive Behavior: A Visual System of Support and Intervention for Individuals With Autism Spectrum Disorders. Shawnee Mission, KS: AAPC Publishing.

Endow, J. (2010).  Practical Solutions for Stabilizing Students With Classic Autism to Be Ready to Learn: Getting to Go. Shawnee Mission, KS: AAPC Publishing.

Myles, B. S., Endow, J., & Mayfield, M. (2013).  The Hidden Curriculum of Getting and Keeping a Job: Navigating the Social Landscape of Employment. Shawnee Mission, KS: AAPC Publishing.

Originally written for and published by Ollibean on April 29, 2014

More Than An Autism Diagnosis

July 30, 2014Activism/Advocacy, Social Considerations, Visual Supportsadmin

I am an adult with autism. My thinking is visual rather than word-based. Autism gifts me with a literal and concrete way of thinking. My thoughts are all in full moving color. You can read about this and about my life in my book called Paper Words, Discovering and Living With My Autism. (Endow, 2009a)

“Always, I have a front row seat to watch the show! Each color, with its infinite variety of hues and brightness, has its own movement patterns and sound combinations. Even though spoken words are the medium most often used by people to communicate with me, I am wired to connect to these words through the sound and movement of colors. This is the way I think. It moves quite fast, but even so, tends to be slower than the speed of conversation. This can cause me to look less intelligent. People say I have processing delays. Painting allows me to show my thoughts without the burden of constant translation.” (Endow, 2013)

So, why am I telling you this?

I recently sent an email to friends telling them of my art expression through acrylic painting and inviting them to take a look at the Art Store page on my website with the paintings that show my autistic style of thinking. (www.judyendow.com)

After viewing the paintings along with the above quoted words that go with the paintings, a friend responded saying that I seemed to have connected with a part of myself that has very few adjectives in common with the stereotypical view of autism.

This got me thinking. Stereotypical views of autism are based on the neuro majority assignment of “truth” as they look at us.

All human beings, regardless of neurology, look out at the world through eyeglasses imposed upon them by their own neurology. Then, they assign meaning to the behavior of others according to the meaning that behavior would have were they engaged in it.

Most times this automatic guess is correct, but sometimes – like when neuro majorities are looking at autistics – the guess can be wrong. Over time, this repeated wrong guessing takes on a life of pseudo truth and becomes a stereotypical view. Thus, today we have a stereotypical view of autism that is quite narrow and limited and very much lacking in empathy, generated by those who live in their own world (that is not our world)…

Oh my goodness! Isn’t that precisely how neuro majorities describe us! Might it mean that we both – neuro majority and autistic – are making assumptions about the other according to our own yardstick measure that we unwittingly assume, without giving thought, is baseline “normal?”

The autism diagnostic criteria are a report on deviation from the typical neurology. As such it shows a picture of what autistics ARE NOT and highlights what we CANNOT DO as compared to the majority “normal.” It says nothing at all about who we ARE or what we CAN DO. Indeed, our abilities and skills most often remain untapped because the neuro majority does not possess them so have no way to understand or support that development in us. For example, if my way of thinking in the movement and sound of color had been supported as a youngster I likely would have been able to produce paintings long before my late 50’s.

Even so, the negative, deficit-based language of diagnostic criteria is not good or bad, right or wrong. In fact, it is necessary if we want to utilize health insurance to pay for treatment and support of autistic individuals. They must “have” something and that something must be something “wrong” in order for the health care reimbursement system to work.

The problem comes when we take the deficit-based language out of the diagnostic realm and start using it to define the humanity of individuals with autism. It imposes limits on the way people think about us and in turn on the opportunities they extend to us.

So my friend was almost exactly right when saying that, through my painting, I seemed to have connected to a part of myself that has very few adjectives in common with the stereotypical view of autism. I say, “almost exactly right” because I have not connected with this part of myself. This IS “myself” – always has been. The real of me – the essence of who I am as a human being – has very few adjectives in common with the stereotypical view of autism!

When talking about autistics – individuals who have been diagnosed with autism – it is important to realize your words have power, often opening or closing doors. What you say and how you say it really does matter. (Endow, 2009b) Please do not use the deficit-based diagnostic criteria of autism to describe my humanity – or the humanity of any autistic.

In this age of the stereotypical view of autistic people, mainly due to the autism awareness campaigns, here are some ideas to help any neuromajority person who may be interested to see beyond an autism diagnosis in an autistic person:

When interacting with an autistic think of that person rather than what you happen to know about autism. What you know about autism may or may not apply to a person with whom you are interacting. And even if it does apply, it will not do much for you in terms of getting to know that person.

Think of the person you are interacting with rather than the language pigeonholes you have heard applied to autism such as low-functioning and high-functioning. Nobody actually has a precise definition of those words. After all, how would you respond if someone asked you, “Are you high-functioning or low-functioning?”

Realize that autistics are measured against the majority “normal” in order to get a diagnosis and, if young enough, early intervention. This measure is one of “less than” as a diagnostic necessity, but please remember we are not “less than” human beings. We have a diagnosis – not a flawed humanity. We have different operating systems. This means we may struggle with many of your ways and have to overcome many obstacles to fit into your world, but we are not less than – just different.

Get to know us for what we can do rather than for the diagnostic criteria attached to our label. This may be hard because the majority of social conversation and news media reporting is laden with definitions of autism, which of necessity are deficit-based. This is what people have come to know about autism. It has become our “public image” so to speak. But at the end of the day don’t we all like to be known for our strengths – for what we can do rather than for our struggles? Don’t we all want to be seen in our best light as good human beings in this world?

Painting is White Thought Wave on Green by Judy Endow

Note: Greeting cards along with prints in three sizes
available for purchase at the
Art Store on www.judyendow.com

BOOKS BY JUDY ENDOW

Endow, J. (2019).  Autistically Thriving: Reading Comprehension, Conversational Engagement, and Living a Self-Determined Life Based on Autistic Neurology. Lancaster, PA: Judy Endow.

Endow, J. (2012). Learning the Hidden Curriculum: The Odyssey of One Autistic Adult. Shawnee Mission, KS: AAPC Publishing.

Endow, J. (2006).  Making Lemonade: Hints for Autism’s Helpers. Cambridge, WI: CBR Press.

Endow, J. (2013).  Painted Words: Aspects of Autism Translated. Cambridge, WI: CBR Press.

Endow, J. (2009).  Paper Words: Discovering and Living With My Autism. Shawnee Mission, KS: AAPC Publishing.

Endow, J. (2009).  Outsmarting Explosive Behavior: A Visual System of Support and Intervention for Individuals With Autism Spectrum Disorders. Shawnee Mission, KS: AAPC Publishing.

Endow, J. (2010).  Practical Solutions for Stabilizing Students With Classic Autism to Be Ready to Learn: Getting to Go. Shawnee Mission, KS: AAPC Publishing.

Myles, B. S., Endow, J., & Mayfield, M. (2013).  The Hidden Curriculum of Getting and Keeping a Job: Navigating the Social Landscape of Employment. Shawnee Mission, KS: AAPC Publishing.

Originally written for and published by Ollibean on April 16, 2014