April is National Autism Awareness Month and World Autism Awareness Day is April 2, 2019

Awareness and understanding of Autism is still very limited.  It is often not until it hits home that people are willing to open up to what Autism is about.  It seems that not until your child has symptoms or a niece or nephew or neighbor’s child shows signs that we take more of an interest.  Reading about what it is or hearing about some of the symptoms does not always make people understand what is going on.  Living with Autism or observing it from those close to us makes us more knowledgeable and sympathetic towards the person afflicted and the family caring for the person.

Professional people are often not trained to understand Autism either and that can be concerning.  A fireman I am acquainted with once told me, “this Autism business…these kids need a good beating…” raising a fist as if punching.  I absorbed it and tried to explain my son, but I limited the conversation to keep it simple as it seemed futile.

Another instance, a retired police officer told me my non-verbal son had to say, “I’m sorry” because he disturbed his writing and thought process by disposing of garbage in a trash can next to him….I tried to explain my son did not talk and speech was random, but it just did not sink in.  So, before the situation got worse, I tried to move on and forget, but you can not forget.

Also, my son often salutes police officers.  During Mall visits or Park outings Police, Swat members, or Sheriff’s Officers give my son a “look” that I can not explain.  I do not know how they perceive this.  I know my son does this based on association with what he sees from movies or at parades, etc.  Maybe if they understood this, they would just nod or smirk with appreciation that my son thinks highly of men in uniform.

I give a great amount of appreciation to 2 very well trained police forces in NJ.  The police in Sparta, NJ are wonderful towards the Autistic population and the Warren County State Troopers do a wonderful job.  They deal with a severely impaired Autistic population who have serious behavior and medical issues.  They are very well trained and have patience and understanding.

Until they find an answer to this Autism Puzzle, we have to keep the knowledge of Autism alive and going because of the serious Social Impairment, Anxiety, OCD, Behaviors, and Medical Issues these people suffer with who are on the Spectrum.