Just like there are four steps to autistic integration and involvement in society, there are four stops that prevent this from happening, albeit over time.
The first stop along the route is ignorance. If a person ignores something, either by lack of education, information, or experience, how can that person have any form of awareness about the subject, idea, or issue? If a person chooses to ignore the basis of autism in the broadest sense of the word, how can that person be aware of what it means to be autistic? Unfortunately, ignorance is often "the path of least resistance", as by ignoring autism (often by trying to divert attention to another subject or issue); whereas, by facing the subject, itself, would require more resistance to former ideas and beliefs that have been entrenched over generations and cultures.
The second stop is denial. Often, once a person accepts that there is this subject known as autism, more often from a person in one's own proximity (family, neighbourhood) as being subject to the issue of autism, the question of why is raised, as a form of denial. "Why are we, as a family, being subject to my son being diagnosed with autism?" The denial phase is one of the hardest ones to overcome, for many, and the idea of accepting autism into their lives is often seen as a form of "surrender"--a kind of "giving in" to an "enemy". By trying to claim that the idea, itself, is absurd, these people in denial will try to avoid changes, and get back to the "status quo" of what life was like before the word "autism" entered the vocabulary. Anyone who tries to promote acceptance of autism is often up against this "brick wall" of resistance, and, finding a door through this "brick wall" is the only route to acceptance.
The third stop is the "yes, but" approach to the input of autistics as far as what each one wants for his/her life, based on the idea that others must have a better idea than autistics themselves as to what is better for their integration into society. Autistics, in this phase, are not asked what they want or how they wish to achieve it; they are told what they should want to better themselves in the society that surrounds them, and they are told in rote fashion how to achieve these "goals" thrust upon their shoulders "for their own good". To overcome this stop, autistics need help in getting their word out, no matter how much ignorance, denial, or the "yes, but" approach has been around for decades. The autistics are often ready to speak, but are terrified of presenting their ideas, as these ideas often are in conflict with what others deem "appropriate" at the time, and therefore (as one autistic stated) there is no reason to communicate--as they will be "lambasted" for expressing what is considered "ill-thought" or "unworthy of consideration", no matter how important that proposal is to the autistic individual.
The fourth stop is lack of action in prolonging the momentum, once an autistic has had a chance to air his/her thoughts on what to that autistic is important and needs to be done in society for his/her benefit and the benefit of others of all categories. The temptation is to deem that the idea is fine for that autistic, alone, but just does not fit into the needs and desires of others in any way, and must be treated as an "isolated case". This only pushes what the autistic is trying to do, no just with his/her own life, but with society/culture as a whole "under the carpet", and is like telling the autistic, "Your idea has merit, but is only applicable to your own life, not to anyone else's!". It would be like telling Vincent van Gogh that his paintings were fine for him to produce, but not to expect others to find anything at all worthwhile in his paintings; or to tell Albert Einstein that his formulas in physics were wonderful ideas for his own mind to come up with, but not to bother the scientific community with these ideas, as they might have no merit, at all, when it comes to established scientific laws.
If all of these stops could (by some miracle) be totally eliminated, there would be no problem, at all, in autistic integration and involvement in society. Each autistic person would have no ignorance, denial, or "yes, but..." framework leaning against his/her life goals, and the push would be there to let these goals be known to others everywhere as completely worthwhile, not just for the autistic, but for the benefits for all of humankind, not just at the moment when these ideas or goals are presented by the autistic, but for many generations to come, in all cultures.
The question, now, is: How does an autistic person get through these barricades or "border checkpoints"? It's not a matter of trying to avoid these crossings, as they are part of the path, itself. It's more a matter of how others can speed the process of crossing, like family/friends helping a person prepare a passport for getting into another country. However, one has to be reminded that there are four such crossings--and each one is quite different from the others. To use another analogy, when one has got through the first three stops, it's like the spiritual song, "There's one more river to cross...".
Yes, this is a journey of immense proportions, but a journey that every autistic individual yearns for--to get to his/her own goals in life, no matter how different, beyond "common sense" or unobvious those goals or ideals might seem to his/her family, community, or society. The goals are there, waiting in the distance, with four major obstacles blocking the achievement. Once those obstacle have been overcome, the idea of frustration, both for the autistic individual and those around him/her will be hard to comprehend.
06/27/07 @ 00:11