Juniata High School

Happy Autism Awareness Month! Autism occurs in about one in 100 children, which makes up only one percent of the entire world’s population. Autism, which is short for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), is a neurodevelopmental disorder that is usually diagnosed in early childhood. The disorder can be diagnosed later in life, but this is rare because symptoms are usually noticed early on in life. Autism officially became a diagnostic term back in 1943, and Dr. Leo Kanner made this happen. It is important to remember that you cannot develop autism. People who are diagnosed with autism have had autism ever since birth. Autism is a genetic disorder, which means that someone with autism probably has other people in their family with autism and might produce autistic children. Some symptoms of this disorder include getting easily upset over minor changes, lack of empathy, obsessive interests, repetitive actions or words, constant routine, little to no eye contact or constant eye contact, sensory issues, flapping of arms or legs, delayed social/language skills, delayed cognitive and learning skills, and unusual eating or sleeping habits. Just because someone with autism might lack empathy does not mean that they have no feelings. The lack of empathy just means a lack of understanding of another’s emotions. Not everyone with autism will experience the same symptoms and might even be the complete opposite of someone else with autism. Remember that this is a spectrum disorder, and nobody will have the same symptoms. The spectrum isn’t a scale with one end saying “highly autistic” and the opposite side saying “slightly autistic”. The spectrum is like a pie chart of symptoms. Autism occurs differently in men and women and all age groups. Autism is usually diagnosed in men and researched in men more often than in women. It is most important to remember that autistic people are also people and shouldn’t be treated any differently because of their disability. They might need extra help with understanding some things or people, but that doesn’t make them any less human than the rest of us.