April is Autism Awareness month. For those of you who are not familiar with the autistic community, first off you are missing out, second, you need to become familiar with it because autistic individuals are all around you. 1 in 59 children are autistic. I work with autistic students every day and my boyfriend is autistic. It is safe to say that I love this community of people, but the more I work with them the more annoyed I get at the lack of knowledge about autism or the myths about it that are so prevalent in the world. So that is why I have come up with this list.

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Things I Wish People Knew about Autistic Individuals One: They Are More Common Than You May Think

Autism is incredibly common. 1 in 59 children is diagnosed with Autism. It is 4 times more common in boys than in girls. For us teachers out there who have about 30 kids in our classroom that means that every two classrooms will more than likely hold one autistic student. It is on the rise, but I would caution people from referring to autism as an epidemic. It perpetuates fear about having a child with autism and it makes people much more likely to be unkind to autistic individuals. Instead, because it is so common you need to become more knowledgable about the topic because you have many amazing autistic individuals around you that want your love and acceptance as well. Love and acceptance often starts with people learning about them.  

Along with the idea that it is more common is the idea that it is different for every autistic individual. Since it is a spectrum disorder it manifests itself differently in every person. This means that many autistic individuals may not be easily recognizable at first. However, they still need people to be able to understand them and know the best ways to advocate for them, interactive with them, and help them.

Things I Wish People Knew about Autistic Individuals Two: They Do Live into Adulthood

I cannot even begin to describe my annoyance when I am searching for things for my boyfriend to help me understand him more and for him to get help for things he needs help with and the resources for adults with autism is so lacking it’s not even funny. There is not even a great deal of research. I was looking into why the research was so lacking and I found that before people knew more about autism they didn’t believe that autistic individuals lived into adulthood so why research it or try to figure out what autistic adults need.

There is also an idea of autistic individuals may grow out of their autism this is also not true. They may get better at hiding their autism, or they learn better coping mechanisms, but they do not grow out of it. Believing these myths though have really hurt autistic adults that do have the help they need because of the lack of research and resources for autistic adults. Autistic Adults still need help because there are so many transitions that autistic adults have to navigate, and if they do not have the resources they need they are less likely to be able to live to their fullest potential.

Things I Wish People Knew about Autistic Individuals Three: They Are Incredibly Smart

There is a misconception that autistic individuals are not smart and this could not be farther from the truth for many autistic individuals. 44% of Autistic Individuals actually have above average intelligence. Autistic individuals see the world in different ways and things that come easily to neurotypicals can be very hard for them but at the same time, they can often tell you everything there is to know about a subject that interests them.

Although this is not true of everyone on the spectrum there are some autistic individuals that are not as smart as neurotypicals it is wrong to classify all autistic individuals as less than in the intelligence department. Once again remember the idea that Autistic individuals are exactly that individuals and they are all different. If you know one autistic individual you do not know everyone on the spectrum or how they act and think.

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Things I Wish People Knew about Autistic Individuals Four: They Did not Get Autism From Vaccinations

As the Anti-vaxer movement gets stronger, I have to be clear about this autism is not caused by vaccines. The experiment that said it was has been proven wrong and the doctor lost his license. There are certain medical reasons that some kids cannot get vaccinated and those medical reasons should be respected. I will not get into that here or comment saying that all people should vaccinate. There are some people that really can’t for medical reasons. However, to not vaccinate one’s kids because they are worried they will get autism says a lot about peoples views on Autism and I hope that they would research more.

Things I Wish People Knew about Autistic Individuals Five: They Deserve and Need Great Mental Health Resources.

Many autistic individuals do not get the mental health resources that they need. Their access to adequate mental health can also significantly go down as they get older. My boyfriend has struggled so much to find an adequate therapist who knows anything about autism and the one he found really has never worked with adults with autism. Good mental health resources are needed for autistic adults, and they need people who know and have worked with others like them to give them the care they need.

I think this goes back to the idea of research also though for autistic adults there has not been much research done so it is hard to find a therapist who specializes in autism in adults because it has not been studied or researched. This means that the need in this department is possibly even greater because Autistic adults really need the best mental health care that they can have to be able to live well in society and have a joyful life.

If you enjoyed this article please consider sharing it. A great way to do that is Pinterest. I have included a gallery below that will allow you to do just that. Also, my boyfriend, an autistic individual is also studying to be a graphic designer currently and the images below contain some of his amazing work. If you would like to see some more of his amazing work head to his art page found here.