It used to be, back in the day, Autism Awareness Month. I, as a member of the Autism Society of America Board along with Temple Grandin, was a part of putting all of that together, we chose April because it starts with A, like Autism. We also considered August, we felt Springtime would be better for events, conferences, and fundraisers, and overall raising awareness.
Since that time, there has been a push to change Awareness Month to Acceptance Month, which I was against in the beginning. I felt (and I still feel) that acceptance will come with awareness. I understand the need for acceptance, but I think acceptance needs to come on its own. We can’t force people into acceptance, the acceptance won’t be genuine. I’d rather wait for the acceptance and have the acceptance be real than have people fake acceptance for an Acceptance Month.
But what one feels about Autism Acceptance Month changes depending on perspective. If we are looking at Autism acceptance in the sense of accepting Autistic individuals, then yes – that is something we want. We want everyone with Autism to be accepted. We want them to be welcome and invited into our society. However, if we look at Autism acceptance in the sense of the condition of Autism itself, that’s another story. Some would have us accept it just as it is. However, we need to provide therapies, interventions, and support for a higher quality of life.
When we were putting this all together, what we had in mind was a month that was about advocacy. We wanted to see conferences and conventions, fundraisers and events, and even meetings with legislators.
We need to bring attention not just to acceptance of the lower support needs, but to the problems of the more severe and their families, and finding support and solutions that work for them.
This year, President Biden issued a proclamation supporting World Autism Acceptance Day. He stated, “I call upon all Americans to learn more about Autism to improve early diagnosis, to learn more about the experiences of Autistic people from Autistic people, and to build more welcoming and inclusive communities to support people with Autism.”
Yes, we need to learn more about Autism from Autistic people. Also from parents, family members, friends, doctors, researchers, educators, and therapists. The Autism community is vast, indeed. All of them (and more) have something to teach us.
Autism Acceptance Month is nearly over, but it’s not too late to start advocating.
-Thomas A. McKean
Learn more about Thomas and Autism @thomasamckean.com