Hope you will read this. . .

This was written by Nancy Alar, president of the Autism Society of Wisconsin. I liked it. . .I hope you will take the time to read it and remember it when you encounter someone with autism, or anyone who is different from yourself:



I’m sure by now most of you have read (and been outraged by) the comments of Michael Savage on his talk radio show. He said, “autism is "[a] fraud, a racket. ... I'll tell you what autism is. In 99 percent of the cases, it's a brat who hasn't been told to cut the act out.”

Many of you have also read the statement released by ASW to the media rebutting Savage’s misguided notions. I’d like to add my 2 cents to those thoughts.


Those of us in the autism community who are parents, professionals or educators have seen and dealt with numerous “meltdowns” – those explosive outbursts of behavior that overtake those of us on the spectrum when the frustrations of life overwhelm their neurology. But I believe those of us who are on the “outside” of these meltdown episodes can’t begin to appreciate how awful it is to be “inside” of a meltdown.


Try to imagine what it must be like to be in pain and not be able to tell anyone –and in fact be punished for the behavior that results from that pain. I try to imagine the overwhelming fear that the sound of vacuum cleaners generates for my son. Then I try to include in my imagination the anger, laughter and ridicule that must accompany these fearful episodes when people like my son encounter people like Savage. Is it any wonder that living in a world that constantly misunderstands you and thinks you are “doing it on purpose” generates meltdowns?

My son has had numerous meltdowns in his lifetime (I have the dents in my walls to prove it). But the meltdowns greatly diminished as he got older. I’ve come to appreciate that fact that those dents are only in walls. My son hasn’t directed his assaults at other people (except himself) since he was very young. People like Savage assume that if my son can limit his outbursts to damage things instead of attack people, this proves my son could control his meltdowns if he only tried harder. People like Savage also think that if a person on the spectrum has a meltdown in a situation they were able to “handle” in the past, this proves that their behavior is manipulative. NONE OF THESE ASSUMPTIONS ARE TRUE!!


It is no fun at all to be the person who is having a meltdown! It is terrifying to lose control of your own behavior. How many of us have ever had an overwhelming emotional response to a scary situation (a tragic car crash for example) where we couldn’t stop crying (or yelling). Well just suppose that those around you couldn’t understand why a car crash featuring injuries, blood, guts and destruction was upsetting to you. And THEN imagine that car crashes happened in your world multiple times a day. And THEN imagine when you tried to explain to others why
you were freaked out by car crashes those others didn’t understand or believe you. And THEN imagine you get punished for acting upset about all the car crashes. In order to survive, you’d probably have to pretend to ignore all the car crashes, but that would mean using a lot of energy to keep your upset from showing. Is it any wonder that those on the spectrum talk about “pretending to be normal”?


Because those on the spectrum have a different neurological setup than the rest of us, changes in their environment can have the same emotional impact as that car crash.
People on the spectrum are like an invisible minority living among us. The sensory and emotional world they experience is often very different from the one that “normal” people live in. But others can’t see this internal difference by looking at those on the spectrum. Often all that shows are their “odd” behaviors that serve to minimize the sensory impact or the meltdowns when the differences are just too much to endure.


It is very difficult for any of us (on the spectrum or not) to understand the outlook of someone who experiences the world differently than we do. It takes concentration, effort and a willingness to accept that there are different realities than the one you are living in. Michael Savage is obviously very handicapped in his ability to understand human differences. We need to keep working on autism awareness to help people like him overcome this handicap.