Autism Acceptance {why I won’t light it up blue}

I have been thinking about what to write here because as some of my readers may know April is Autism Awareness Month although I prefer to refer to it as ACCEPTANCE month instead and I’m sure that a lot of other people do too! Awareness can only do so much and whilst people can be aware of things but it doesn’t mean that they truly understand or accept them.

I have learnt so much since my own son’s diagnoses 5 years ago, first as a parent and then from someone on the spectrum after receiving my own diagnoses as being on the spectrum. There is so much more than I had ever thought of and seeing it from the other side, I can see why some of the articles and images shared during April can be hurtful to those that are on the spectrum (myself included).

I’m not a fan of the Light it up Blue campaign and certainly don’t agree with the methods used to “Light it up Blue”, you can read a link here that will explain some of the whys: www.asan-au.org/2016/03/autism-awareness-notinourname and this is a good post about how to support people who are Autistic during April: www.themarysue.com/autism-awareness-month

I believe in neurodiversity and acceptance and below is a link that I think will be helpful to my readers who wish to share and spread the word of acceptance but I do ask that you please think about what you are sharing because you never know who it may hurt on the other side of the screen and if we truly want acceptance and understanding then we should all listen to all the autistic voices out there because aren’t we the very reason reason for Autism acceptance month?

If you are wanting to share some articles then this blogsite here is a fantastic place to start: www.autismacceptancemonth.com

All the best
PhillyImage is from http://www.asan-au.org

From Wikipedia :  The rainbow-colored infinity symbol represents the diversity of the autism spectrum as well as the greater neurodiversity movement. Many autistic people prefer this symbol over any puzzle-piece based ones.

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