Autism Awareness Month in April is an opportunity to show your support and love for all people affected by autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This month, many individuals, businesses, and organizations choose to participate in spreading awareness of ASD. Below are a couple of things you can do to participate in spreading awareness during Autism Awareness Month.
Getting Educated
Often, awareness is as simple as getting educated about what autism is and what is means to those who have it. Learn more about autism by watching documentaries, reading books, keeping up with what’s happening in autism-related research, and joining groups on social media. The more you learn, the better equipped you’ll be to help individuals with ASD find their place in your community.
Communicating
One of the most important things you can do is learn how autistic people communicate. Individuals with autism often have trouble with communicating nonverbally and understanding social cues and innuendos. This can sometimes cause them to appear rude or distant, but often they are just having a hard time concentrating on what they want to say!
They might make eye contact less often, or use different facial expressions, gestures, and tones of voice than neurotypical people. Some ways individuals with autism communicate include gestures, pictures or drawings, and repetitive phrases they’ve heard in movies and TV shows that might be out of context.
Spreading Awareness
One of many reasons why autism awareness month is so special is because, as non-autistic people, we don’t really know what it feels like to be autistic and so can’t quite understand what life is like for them. It is not necessary to have ASD or know anyone with ASD to spread awareness about the disorder. You can spread awareness and show your support by talking about autism more openly or using autism friendly language and terms when talking about autistic people and their behaviors.