April 1st, is that day that many of us dread. Will we be tricked or will we impose a trick on someone else?
Now because of the current climate within our communities and world in general, the joke seems to be on us all. There will be no pranks to play on anyone, if you are being socially responsible and socially distant from others and I hope you truly are.
So instead of doing a whole write up on practical jokes and such, I decided to go in the exact opposite direction.
Instead of bemoaning my isolation, I decided to learn something new!
It's fitting that it also falls in line with one of my New Year's Resolutions. I promised myself that I would read more and at the same time look at many different genres that I might not have done before. To that end, I picked up a book that really was entertaining and informative in so many ways.
Funny, You Don't Look Autistic, caught my eye.
It is an autobiography of a young man who early in his life (age 5) was diagnosed with Autism. What made this book catch my eye is that one of my granddaughters has been diagnosed with this disorder as well. I wanted to understand it better so that I could have some meaningful conversations with her, her parents, and her siblings as well.
Now let's be clear, this is not a clinician's book, it is the story of a young man, who with the help of his family and a diagnosis of autism, is trying to find his way in the world. Michael is very blessed in that his level of autism is high functioning in the ASD (autism spectrum disorder) scale. The things he does are not things that all autistic children will be able to do. His parents learn how to integrate Michael's abilities with his inabilities. This makes for a very adaptable world for Michael. Not all autistic children are that "lucky". There are so many different levels of autism and we just don't understand all of it. We are making great progress, but there is still much that we don't understand.
Most of you will remember the movie Rain Man (starring Dustin Hoffman), that was my first real glimpse at autism. His level of autism is called Savant. Savants are another whole level of Autism. Yet it is so much more complicated and varied than what was presented here.
There are so many different levels of Autism
As I mentioned earlier Rain Man (a Savant) had a level of autism that allowed him to understand numbers to the point of being able to figure out a date, and being able to know it was a Monday or Tuesday....you get the picture. But autism has many different levels and with those levels people have certain abilities or lack thereof.
Autism is here and with our growing understanding of the condition, children that are diagnosed with this can look forward to a better understanding from both parents and the educational system.
Sensory overload is a common trait in autistic children. They either have too much or not enough sensory responses. They may be bothered by the feel of clothes on their bodies, noises that we generally are able to push into the background , are like bells and whistles going off in their minds. So their reactions to these stimulii is completely different than ours would be. I know my granddaughter always has one leg of her pants rolled up to her knee, she just cannot handle the cloth rubbing on her leg. One of my nephews needs headphones to block out sounds that are overpowering to his mind. These are just some small examples of what having an autistic child can look like. There are many and "Autism" is a misnomer. The true way to speak of this disorder is to call it the Autism Spectrum. Spectrum, lets us understand that there are just so many levels of this disorder in the general population.
Reading This Book Has Helped
Michael in this book has made me see what it is that can undo an autistic persons demeanor. I did not understand sensory overload at all. But reading about it through his eyes, it made more sense to me.
Autistic children, at least high functioning autistic children, usually have a gift of some sort. Michael's was being on stage and making people laugh. He fed off of the reactions to his "story" and made sense of his time with those reactions. It also helped a lot of people who did not understand Autism to take a second look at what that means.
If you want to learn more..........
I really recommend this book. It is light-hearted, optimistic, funny, and yet opens some doors and windows into a disorder that has many parents, grandparents and the general public wondering. I found it to be entertaining as well as informative and that to me is a double bonus.
If you are interested or want to delve into an Autistic life a little further, this book would make a really good read. I'm glad I stopped to pick it up and I'm sure you will be entertained and learn something new at the same time. It really is a winner in my books.
If you want to learn more about Autism there are many websites devoted to the subject and I offer a few here:
Now just in case you were wondering....April 2nd is World Autism Day.....Happy April Fools Day!
Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN) and/or Esty (Awin) Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”
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