Being aware of something means “the quality or state of being aware.” It is not active and takes little to no effort. Acceptance, in contrast, requires action—making an effort to understand and approve of another. As noted by Kassiane S., a blog post writer on the ASAN website, “Acceptance of autistic people, like acceptance of…
My younger daughter and I were diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) on the same day; she was 2 and I was 39. I didn’t suspect that she was autistic until she started having intense crying fits around 18 months old. I knew that these fits, often lasting 45 minutes, were not simply toddler tantrums.…
My father died almost 40 years ago. Nonetheless, hardly a day goes by without something Dad taught me coming into play. Sometimes it’s a direct memory. Other times it’s a turn of phrase, a joke, or a pun. He loved the English language, the spoken word, and the gift of conversation. What would he be…
As parents and caretakers, we face many challenges in ensuring that our children are safe, healthy, and happy. My wife and I have encountered several scares. Our son had a respiratory episode a few days after he was born, which resulted in a week-long stay in the hospital, several tests, serious discussions with specialists about…
The definitions of friendships are as unique and varied as each of us are. For this month’s Perspective, we asked two recipients of OAR scholarships to describe their experience of friendship as new college students. Connor McNally: Taking an Asocial Stance I haven’t really made any friends in college, but since I’m asocial, that’s…
OAR’s 18th birthday this month evokes a flood of memories. The first is one of three men, Jim Sack, Mike Maloney, and me, meeting in a bar in Baltimore in January 2002. OAR had just been legally established, and Jim and Mike drove up from Washington to pitch OAR and recruit me to become the…
Getting a job is hard. Getting a job when you’re autistic is really hard. Keeping a job as an autistic…even harder. I have managed to be employed for the past five years since I finished graduate school. Honestly, I am not sure how I have done it successfully. I know it has taken a lot…
College students with autism have the same desire as other college students: to become independent and obtain a degree that will lead to a career. Many need support yet retreat from services that focus on remediating difficulties, to the exclusion of developing strengths. They view intervention focused on remediating difficulties as an obstacle to independence…
Deciding when and how to disclose autism is complex and personal for each individual with autism and for their parents, particularly when making decisions about school and in the workplace. For this Perspective column, OAR asked three people with autism, Peyton Berardi, Laura Guerro, and Ben VanHook, and three parents, Susan Berardi, Lee Guerro, and…
Public safety organizations and agencies have taken note of and are responding to the rapid rise of autism spectrum diagnoses in the United States. Over the last decade, command-level police leaders, public safety executives, and legislators have expressed an ever-increasing interest in autism training for frontline professionals and positive partnerships within the autism community. For…
