Autism awareness is so important because so many people have no understanding of what it’s like to have autism. First of all, it’s very isolating not being able to communicate with others. It’s frustrating to wake up each day and not be able to express yourself. It’s infuriating that people judge you like you can not feel things around you and they think you are not the person that you are. Often you feel people do not care how you feel. It defines you as someone not intelligent or a person that does not have feelings.  

I want to share some suggestions of how to act around people with autism. First of all, do not feel they are not listening. They are, but it may not appear that they are. Do not talk about them in front of them. Try and politely ask them to participate in the activity. Try and include them. They want to feel welcomed. Follow your guide to behavior strategies like you would with someone else. Sometimes it’s hard for us to agree. We get set in our ways and change can be difficult. You should help them want to participate by politely encouraging them. Also, I personally like a lot of praise when I do things well. It is very rewarding. I assume it is the same way for neurotypical people.  

I really feel that people need to understand that we are similar in more ways than different.  

We like to learn.  

We like to communicate.  

We like to feel loved.  

We like to feel good about ourselves.  

We like to have friends.  

We like to get attention  

We like to save special gifts from people.  

We like to go on vacations.  

We like to send friendly messages to people.  

We like to receive presents and give them to others.  

We like to judge others and be judged (not negatively though).  

We like to have a future worth living for.  

We like to have a safe, supportive, normal life.  

We like to describe ourselves as a friend to others.  

We like to follow social media and the news.  

We like to give back to the community for helping us grow into the person we are.  We like to thank God for bringing us into this world. 

 It’s important to remember that since many of us can not communicate well, we often feel no one is believing us. We need people to give us the benefit of the doubt and trust us. We have opinions and we matter. We are human and we think for ourselves.  We may not be able to express ourselves, but we like to be heard. We like to have choices. We like to make a difference in this world.  

Please be more aware of our feelings. Please be more sensitive to our emotions. Please be more caring and accepting of us. Please be more respectful of our disability. Please treat us the way you want to be treated and please be the person that makes someone with autism feel good about themselves.  

Do you understand now more about autism? I hope I have helped you better understand how we feel. It’s too bad it has taken me so long to have found my voice,  but I will continue to use it. Please continue to read my articles. I will eventually be a  professional writer.  

You can read an interview with grade 9 and Marc here.