The Many Faces of Autism

The other night while flipping through the channels, I stumbled upon the movie Rainman. For anyone living under a rock who is unfamiliar with the movie, Dustin Hoffman portrays Raymond; an autistic man who gets "sprung" from an institution by his anti-hero brother played by Tom Cruise.

While watching this movie I was very aware of the fact that when many people think of what autism looks like, they think of Raymond. And, to be honest, sometimes autism does look just like this movie character. Raymond is echolaic, rigid about routines, and shuns most attempts at affection. These can all be very real characteristics of autism.

But not always.

Not every person is as severely affected as Raymond was. Sometimes autism walks amongst us everyday, completely unrecognized.

Autism can be

The "cry-baby" that always cries at the "Mommy and Me" group because they can't handle the confusion of being in a room of 20 other toddlers.

Autism can be

The "scatterbrain" child who never seems to pay attention because he cannot focus on anything other than the hum of the fluorescent lights in his classroom.

Autism can be

The "nerd" who is made fun of for wearing Velcro shoes, because at age 12 she still has not mastered the fine motor coordination to tie her own shoelaces.

Autism can be

The "weirdo" who stares at you just a little too long, because years of socialization training have taught him to make eye contact when communicating, but not necessarily when to look away.

Autism can be

The "bully" who laughs when another child falls down and hurts themselves because they're not quite sure how to show empathy.

Autism can be

The "brat" who tantrums in the middle of a grocery store because the commotion and confusion they encounter in such a setting are simply more than their brains can handle and regulate.

Autism can be

The "stupid" kid who runs across the street, with no fear of traffic, because the compulsion to run, far outweighs his comprehension of danger.

Cry-Baby...Scatterbrain...Nerd...Weirdo...Bully...Brat...Stupid.

We have all known kids who have gotten these labels slapped on them.

We've rolled our eyes when we've seen them act out at stores, at school, or the playground.

We may have even indulged in a bit of, "If I were that kid’s parent they wouldn't act like that!"

I have endured the disapproving stares from other moms at the playground when Justin has melted down for one reason or another.

As a parent you want to scream, "He's really not a brat...he's just on the autism spectrum."

But of course, you don't. Moreover, if you did, I wonder if you would be believed.

Because when many people think of autism, they don't think of perfectly normal looking children, who have reciprocal conversations and like to play with other kids.

They think of Rainman.

They think of severely affected individuals who cannot function in the real world. They think of people with obvious impairments that need our kindness and our protection.

But there's a whole other end to the spectrum that often goes undetected by the general public...until they do something socially unacceptable that makes it clear they're just a little "off". But because they look so "normal", they get branded as nerds, weirdos, brats, etc.

Not people worthy of kindness and protection, or more importantly respect.

That's a problem.

It's a problem because until the population at large starts to understand that autism has many faces, people like Dennis Leary will continue to make asinine assertions such as:

"There is a huge boom in autism right now because inattentive mothers and competitive dads want an explanation for why their dumb-ass kids can't compete academically, so they throw money into the happy laps of shrinks . . . to get back diagnoses that help explain away the deficiencies of their junior morons. I don't give a [bleep] what these crackerjack whack jobs tell you - your kid is NOT autistic. He's just stupid. Or lazy. Or both"


Then, of course, there's the equally hateful quote from the equally asinine Michael Savage who states that autism is:

"A fraud, a racket. ... In 99 percent of the cases, it's a brat who hasn't been told to cut the act out."

The fury I feel when I read such statements can only be matched by the sadness I feel when I realize that many people agree with these ignorant assholes.

To them, autism = Rainman. Any other less severe incarnation just doesn't compute.

And while I in no way mean to diminish the fact that some people are on the severe end of the autism spectrum, I hope to bring some awareness to the fact that more and more we're seeing autism wrapped up in a very ordinary package. These children walk amongst us everyday in very ordinary circumstances.

And with 1 child in the US being diagnosed with autism every 20 minutes, we had better start broadening our definition as to what is socially acceptable pretty damn quick.