ChikoLad
Purple Boi
- Joined
- Jan 11, 2014
- Messages
- 23,084
I won't get too much into the Autism topic since this seems like it's not the best place.
But for the entire months of January and February this year, I actually was working at a special needs school. Kids ranged anywhere from 4-18 years old. Autism was the most common disability shared among them. There are about 80 students in the school, and I worked with the majority of them. After my initial run in the school, I served as a bus escort too. After finishing that I'm currently unemployed again, as of about two weeks ago.
With that out of the way, I'm going to tell it straight.
If there was a cure for autism, it should be developed and spread. It is indeed a mental disability by dictionary definition. While those with minor autism really don't need it cured as it doesn't have nearly as noticeable an effect, those with moderate and severe autism really could use a cure. Not even just for themselves, but for their families and friends too.
I don't say it should be cured because I hated the kids I worked with. Completely the opposite. I adored them all. But I saw the difficulties it caused them.
As an example of a child whose autism effected them greatly, there was a girl in the senior class. I believe she was about 16, and she was actually American too, funnily enough. She had a fairly severe case of autism. She had huge social anxiety and low self-esteem, to the point where socialising could legitimately tire her out and give her headaches. It didn't help that she was quite overweight, so to her, taking 2,000 steps in a day was a huge accomplishment. It was very easy for her to become emotionally deflated or scared. Sometimes she'd lose all work ethic out of the blue. However, she was indeed very intelligent. You ask her a simple question, like when a certain historical event happened, and she wouldn't just give you the year. She'd give you the exact date, an estimated time of day, and some details about the event you probably forgot yourself. She was like a walking encyclopedia. And when describing colours, she was extremely particular. Most people only really refer to things by basic colours in casual conversation, like blue, red, brown, etc. Not her though. She'd give you the exact colour. I particularly remember one of my first days with her, when I was helping her out to her bus. I asked her which bus was hers, between a white one and a "brown" one. She replied "the maroon one".
She was also a Nintendo fan actually. She talked to me about how much she loved Twilight Princess a lot on the Wii, and how she was looking forward to the HD remake. She said she had Smash and Mario Kart, and even some amiibo. I showed her my collection and she was gobsmacked by it, haha.
I'm sort of getting off track, but the point is, she has severe autism. It causes her severe problems that, in a lot of environments, would cause her a lot of trouble and stress. However, she's still a beautiful person. And it's a shame that this disability holds her back. And she seems to wish she wasn't like that.
Another example, this time geared towards how autism effects the families and friends of those who have it. This boy was about 6 years old. Again, a severe case. He actually couldn't form sentences at all. I was mostly a bus escort on this guy's bus, but I saw him a bit in the school too. Essentially, this kid was a ticking time bomb. It was very hard to "figure him out" or notice any distinct patterns in his behaviour (a common trait among those with severe autism). He essentially was mostly just left to his own devices, because you try to make him do anything and if he decided at any point he didn't want to, then he has an aggressive outburst. He had a really powerful grip and essentially would try to claw into your skin, and hit you and kick you at the same time. If you need a visualisation...
It had kinda healed up by the time I took these photos, as this was after I got home, but he essentially tore up my hands, especially my left thumb. I have dermatitis on my hands, so that's especially easy to do. My hands ended up covered in blood and some of it even got on the seats. And I do still have the scars. This happened because he likes to take off his shoes and socks on the bus, but I have to put them back on before he gets off. This was an easy process for a while. But he eventually just started doing stuff like this out of nowhere. His mother also told me she frequently had trouble get him dressed in the morning.
That's just a sample of the many problems this kid caused for people.
This post is getting long and I'm up way later than I should be. But let me just say, the best way I can describe my feelings on autism, is by comparing it to cancer - people who have cancer do not disgust me in the slightest, and obviously have my utmost sympathy. And if they are able to live happily in spite of it, until their last breath, then that's something they should be proud of. However, cancer itself disgusts me, and I'd cure it if I had the power to. It takes lives prematurely. It ruins the lives of family and friends. Nobody would ever say they are proud to have cancer. It's an obstacle, one that's nigh impassable.
Now, autism is obviously not quite that extreme. It doesn't inherently kill people or anything like that. But it does compromise plenty of people in ways that can be quite depressing indeed. If you are able to live happily in spite of it, then that's awesome, and you have my utmost respect. However, autism is something I can't reasonably understand being proud of having. Be proud of being able to overcome it and control it. But don't say you are proud to have it.
Also if you're reading this and you have a mild case of it, then none of this should really effect you. I have met people with mild cases too. Two of the lads in the senior class have a mild case of it, and I honestly could not tell they were students. I thought they were SNAs, like me. So what I say here does not apply as strongly to those with a mild case of it.
But for the entire months of January and February this year, I actually was working at a special needs school. Kids ranged anywhere from 4-18 years old. Autism was the most common disability shared among them. There are about 80 students in the school, and I worked with the majority of them. After my initial run in the school, I served as a bus escort too. After finishing that I'm currently unemployed again, as of about two weeks ago.
With that out of the way, I'm going to tell it straight.
If there was a cure for autism, it should be developed and spread. It is indeed a mental disability by dictionary definition. While those with minor autism really don't need it cured as it doesn't have nearly as noticeable an effect, those with moderate and severe autism really could use a cure. Not even just for themselves, but for their families and friends too.
I don't say it should be cured because I hated the kids I worked with. Completely the opposite. I adored them all. But I saw the difficulties it caused them.
As an example of a child whose autism effected them greatly, there was a girl in the senior class. I believe she was about 16, and she was actually American too, funnily enough. She had a fairly severe case of autism. She had huge social anxiety and low self-esteem, to the point where socialising could legitimately tire her out and give her headaches. It didn't help that she was quite overweight, so to her, taking 2,000 steps in a day was a huge accomplishment. It was very easy for her to become emotionally deflated or scared. Sometimes she'd lose all work ethic out of the blue. However, she was indeed very intelligent. You ask her a simple question, like when a certain historical event happened, and she wouldn't just give you the year. She'd give you the exact date, an estimated time of day, and some details about the event you probably forgot yourself. She was like a walking encyclopedia. And when describing colours, she was extremely particular. Most people only really refer to things by basic colours in casual conversation, like blue, red, brown, etc. Not her though. She'd give you the exact colour. I particularly remember one of my first days with her, when I was helping her out to her bus. I asked her which bus was hers, between a white one and a "brown" one. She replied "the maroon one".
She was also a Nintendo fan actually. She talked to me about how much she loved Twilight Princess a lot on the Wii, and how she was looking forward to the HD remake. She said she had Smash and Mario Kart, and even some amiibo. I showed her my collection and she was gobsmacked by it, haha.
I'm sort of getting off track, but the point is, she has severe autism. It causes her severe problems that, in a lot of environments, would cause her a lot of trouble and stress. However, she's still a beautiful person. And it's a shame that this disability holds her back. And she seems to wish she wasn't like that.
Another example, this time geared towards how autism effects the families and friends of those who have it. This boy was about 6 years old. Again, a severe case. He actually couldn't form sentences at all. I was mostly a bus escort on this guy's bus, but I saw him a bit in the school too. Essentially, this kid was a ticking time bomb. It was very hard to "figure him out" or notice any distinct patterns in his behaviour (a common trait among those with severe autism). He essentially was mostly just left to his own devices, because you try to make him do anything and if he decided at any point he didn't want to, then he has an aggressive outburst. He had a really powerful grip and essentially would try to claw into your skin, and hit you and kick you at the same time. If you need a visualisation...
It had kinda healed up by the time I took these photos, as this was after I got home, but he essentially tore up my hands, especially my left thumb. I have dermatitis on my hands, so that's especially easy to do. My hands ended up covered in blood and some of it even got on the seats. And I do still have the scars. This happened because he likes to take off his shoes and socks on the bus, but I have to put them back on before he gets off. This was an easy process for a while. But he eventually just started doing stuff like this out of nowhere. His mother also told me she frequently had trouble get him dressed in the morning.
That's just a sample of the many problems this kid caused for people.
This post is getting long and I'm up way later than I should be. But let me just say, the best way I can describe my feelings on autism, is by comparing it to cancer - people who have cancer do not disgust me in the slightest, and obviously have my utmost sympathy. And if they are able to live happily in spite of it, until their last breath, then that's something they should be proud of. However, cancer itself disgusts me, and I'd cure it if I had the power to. It takes lives prematurely. It ruins the lives of family and friends. Nobody would ever say they are proud to have cancer. It's an obstacle, one that's nigh impassable.
Now, autism is obviously not quite that extreme. It doesn't inherently kill people or anything like that. But it does compromise plenty of people in ways that can be quite depressing indeed. If you are able to live happily in spite of it, then that's awesome, and you have my utmost respect. However, autism is something I can't reasonably understand being proud of having. Be proud of being able to overcome it and control it. But don't say you are proud to have it.
Also if you're reading this and you have a mild case of it, then none of this should really effect you. I have met people with mild cases too. Two of the lads in the senior class have a mild case of it, and I honestly could not tell they were students. I thought they were SNAs, like me. So what I say here does not apply as strongly to those with a mild case of it.
RIP dieck. You shall be missed.
