Autism Acceptance Month: Dismantling Myths About Autism at Work
People with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) face a number of myths and misconceptions surrounding their characteristics, abilities, and intelligence. These myths are often perpetuated by stereotypes and narratives in popular media, as well as a general lack of knowledge and understanding about what autism really is. Here, as part of Autism Acceptance Month, we’ll examine a few common misconceptions about autism and why they are harmful to the ASD community. But first, let’s understand what autism means.
What is Autism?
Autism is a common developmental condition characterized by challenges with social skills, repetitive and/or obsessive behaviors, and communication. Each individual is impacted differently, and may present a broad range of challenges, strengths, and personality traits. For example, some people with autism are nonverbal and require daily assistance from a caretaker. Other people with autism are famous for their verbal skills as public speakers, professional communicators, writers, actors and more and live independently with jobs and families of their own. Many celebrities and influential people who identify on the autism spectrum will attest that their autism contributed to their success. In fact, recent studies from the last few decades show a strong correlation between autism and high IQ scores, reframing autism as a disorder of high intelligence.
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 1 in 44 children today are identified as being on the autism spectrum. Signs and symptoms typically present before three years old, with some people displaying autistic traits as early as twelve months and others not identifying as autistic until they are well into adulthood.
Thanks to improved diagnostic methods and more widespread awareness, many people are now diagnosed with autism in childhood, but others will be diagnosed later in life. Most people with autism live happy, fulfilling, and productive lives. For some, getting to this point requires the right combination of treatment and counseling. As one saying from the autism community goes, “if you know one person with autism, you know one person with autism.” Every individual is unique.
