As funny as it may sound; autism is disabling! For instance, someone might have to stand besides a road for hours just to allow other people to pass so that he/she can dodge the irritating effect of a sensory input.
– JM
According to the US based CDC (Centers for Disease Control), cases of autism have increased by 178% since the year 2000. This rise they say is because most people are being diagnosed with autism now than ever before. And I agree with them. Why?
1 It’s simply because an overload of sensory input causes intense irritability to their bodies. The spectrum in ASD means that there are different types of autism and severity for each. I’m not sure whether every autistic person is hypersensitive to touch but I’m here to talk about it! Guys like us avoid sitting next to other people because we can’t stand the irritability that comes with them touching us. This is known as tactile defensiveness 2. You’ll see us getting up and walking away whenever we see someone coming to sit next to us.
This also happens while walking on the road with other people behind us: we stand or walk slowly to allow them to pass. It’s like you can feel their energy when they are behind but that energy is just toxic (a hell pain-inflicting energy). This is the irritability to sensory input I’m talking about! Autistic guys feel like the other people being behind them is a deliberate action to push ‘evil’ to them.
As funny as it may sound; autism is disabling! For instance, someone might have to stand beside a road for hours just to allow other people to pass so that he/she can dodge the irritating effect of a sensory input.
Why has the graph of cases of autism risen so fast? Why are many people still oblivious of this condition?
According to the US based CDC (Centers for Disease Control), cases of autism have increased by 178% since the year 2000. This rise they say is because most people are being diagnosed with autism now more than ever before. And I agree with them. Why?
Because like for me I just came to know about the word ‘autism’ just this year. Funny enough, nearly 30 years have passed without knowing what I actually have been through. I’ve always known that I’m different though and have been called a ‘weirdo’ by some guys but I didn’t know the true identity of the condition until just recently. If not for the internet I would have probably died oblivious of that name. I’m afraid many people on the spectrum must have died not aware of that word too.
More stats released by the CDC indicate that the number of autistic people globally as of now is more than 75 million. Can you imagine that? That there is this great number of weirdos out there; and worse! There’s a part out of that number that is disabled. In Kenya, there are more than 2 million autistic people yet people hardly know about this condition. Why? The answer is simple: We have not created awareness of this condition well enough!
Footnotes:
- * This article is adapted from two posts created on Threads. For that reason, two or more different topics may appear in it. ↩︎
- According to Above & Beyond Therapy: Children with autism who have tactile defensiveness may exhibit adverse reactions such as clinging (to loved ones), complaining, lashing out (hitting out someone), or running away when confronted with touch stimuli. These emotional responses can interfere with their daily activities and social interactions, affecting their overall well-being. ↩︎
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JoE ADiX 