A different way of being

Each and every one of us is a complete person in ourselves. Each and every one of us is also different. We feel differently. We dream differently. We sense the world around us differently. We all have a different way of being.

In living our lives, though, most of us will follow the same pattern. We will learn to walk at roughly the same time in our lives. We will learn to talk at roughly the same time in our lives. We will make friends and find long lasting meaningful relationships at the same points in our lives.

Some of us don’t follow that pattern and need help, support and understanding to get us to where we want or need to me. The person needing that support and understanding may be us, our child, a student, friend or employee.

Defining Autism

For some of us it is important to find out why we or the people we love are different. The medical diagnosis or label is important because it helps to give the “difference” a name that we can use to understand it ourselves and explain it to others. For others, the label or diagnosis is scary, it gives the “difference” definite shape and a permanence that we may not be comfortable with.

Professionals may give different labels to delays that could be affecting a child’s development. These can include psychological disorders, sensory processing disorders, hearing issues, language delays, apraxia or even giftedness. One label given may be autism. Reliable statistics on autism are difficult and there is no single source of information on the number of children and adults with autism in Pakistan.  

Autism is a spectrum of symptoms

Autism or “Autism Spectrum Disorder” (ASD) as it is sometimes called is a lifelong developmental disability associated with poor social skills. It is sometimes referred to as an “invisible disability” as there is nothing about how people with autism look that sets them apart from other people. However, people with autism may communicate, interact, behave and learn in ways that are different from most people.

Autism is sometimes referred to as a “spectrum condition”. This means that just like people without autism are different from each other, people with autism are different too. Autism can translate into a wide range of symptoms. The intensity with which it affects their ability to function also varies from mild to severe. The range of consequences is also extensive. At one end, the autism of a computer scientist may not be noticeable to others; at the other, a quarter of children with autism do not speak.

Research on autism continues. There are currently no known causes, although genes are considered as one of the risk factors that can make a person more likely to develop autism.

Autism also does not have a known cure, although research shows that early intervention therapies can help an individual’s overall prognosis.

Every person with autism has unique strengths and challenges. There are many myths that exist about the intellectual abilities of individuals with autism. Autism is not the same as an intellectual disability. Nor is every child with autism a genius.  Children with autism have a full range of IQ scores, just like typically developing children.

Every person with autism does not have a special talent. Some do, some don’t. Many children with autism have uneven abilities and many may also learn differently so what seems like a special talent at a young age may not seem so when they are older.