THE STIGMA OF AUTISM

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At the Britain Foundation we are committed to breaking the stigma associated with autism. When most people hear someone has autism they immediately feel bad for them; like they have some disease. But why feel bad for them? They are just like anyone else in this world, but with a special lens through which they view life - which is not a bad thing at all. It's also a common stigma that just because someone has autism, they can’t achieve their goals. They can’t go to college, can't get a job, can’t start a family. But in truth, many people with autism can, in some, if not in full capacity, do these things. Sure they might have challenges along the way, but the greatest challenge of all is being labeled as someone who “can’t do anything.”  If enough people were to label you as such, then you would start to believe it, almost like a self-fulfilling prophecy.

 When most people think of the word autism, they imagine what they have experienced in the past - if they have any experience with autism at all. The thing is, most peoples' understanding of this subject is skewed by a vast collection of media. These people most likely think of one of two possibilities: a person with autism cannot do anything, and they have to have constant support and supervision to live and not have meltdowns; or they think everyone with autism is a super genius. Both can be true but those are on the far ends of the spectrum. What's important to note is that most people with autism are not on the far ends of the spectrum. Society needs to reprogram its perspective to not view autism as being completely made up of its extremities, but rather view it holistically. Every 1 in 44 people have autism in the United States. That being said, think about how many people you run into in a day. Then take into account the idea that out of every 44 people you see, at least one of them is likely to be autistic. So according to the common stigma of autism, you would either see an uncontrollable person having a meltdown or a super genius everyday, but the reality is, you don’t see that. People with autism are just like anybody else, and it is time people start learning that. People with autism can live a very healthy and successful life.