The potential of autistic people may be getting squandered if we don’t create more awareness. Greater awareness is the only way we can allow early diagnosis and better outcomes for us as a society. Here are some excerpts and thoughts from the article.

One in 38 children have autism according to a study done in S Korea, one of few studies done on an entire population of children. 

Early intervention is cost effective. Early diagnosis and treatment can reduce the cost of lifelong care by almost two thirds according to a study in Sweden.

Tending to them needs special care. It can be exhausting for autistic children to be in our world. Special care can help to get into their worlds. Instead of telling a child, spinning a car on its top is not the way to play with it, we just need to play along sometimes.

I also think governments needs to do more to raise awareness and support schools addressing special children.  Such support is required right through their lives including therapy for job skills and employment.

There can be many advantages of being around or employing autistic people.

Autistic people often speak bluntly and are to the point . Unlike non-autistic people who wouldn’t ever say openly that meetings are a waste of time, autistic people are likely to call a spade a spade ‘People talk about their weekends. Great, but  I don’t care’ says a software worker who is autistic.

Non-autistic people often exaggerate their abilities more. Autistic people even if experts at something may not admit their expertise because they are more keenly aware there is more to learn even after they have learnt a lot.

They can be great at focussing. A software programmer with Asperger’s Syndrome when asked what he most liked about his job, said ‘solving software engineering problems’. And when asked what his hobby was, he said ‘solving software engineering problems’.

They are focussed and loyal once they find something that aligns to them.

A higher recognition of autism can have more people recognising the advantages of employing autistic people.

A man in Florida founded a car washing business that employs autistic people and was rewarded with a team that offers top notch customer service. People talk about his business over dinner tables, about the social benefits the business brings and that helps his business grow because people in general like to favour business with a social conscience.

Autistic employees need more literal instructions and that can help non-autistic people learn far more quickly as well in a business employing both.

Greater amounts of support from governments and the public in general are needed to ensure that the minds of autistic people are not squandered.

This is not something we can afford to think is not affecting us and is the job of someone else out there.