Blog: Understand autism and put on those blue glasses too!
02 April 2024
April 2. A seemingly meaningless date, which silently sneaks by for many people. Probably the only association with this day is the relieved feeling that the previous day is finally over - no more drawing pins on chairs, no more loose laces on shoes that turned out to be tied after all. Yet 2 April is a much more valuable date than you might think. On this day, in fact, it is World Autism Day. On this day, worldwide attention is drawn to autism and the problems people with autism face. This day also pays attention to everything these people manage to do - despite all the obstacles. So on 2 April, the world turns blue, and everyone is invited to put on blue glasses. But why should you do so, and how?
By: Tom Molenaar
What is autism?
Let's start at the beginning: what exactly is autism? Autism is the collective term for behavioural traits that indicate vulnerability in areas such as social interaction, movement and action, sensory stimulus processing and information filtering and integration. Autism covers a spectrum: this means that no two people with autism are the same. For example, one person may be very social but have difficulty processing large amounts of information. With another person, it can be exactly the opposite. In short: if you know one person with autism, then you know one person with autism, and so you know nothing about all the other autistic people.
Because autism is a rather complex concept for many neurotypical people - that is, people without autism, or ADHD or ADD, for example - there are many fables, misconceptions and prejudices about people with autism. For instance, all people with autism are said to be men, never make eye contact, can't show a shred of empathy and all work in ICT. Not to mention the neurotypical man who threw it in my face that in a work situation he was unsure whether he was dealing with a person with autism “or just an asshole”. Well.
Walls and talents
However, this lack of understanding is not the only thing autistic people can encounter: people with autism can experience problems all over society. Whether in work, housing, care, education or simply leisure, walls have been erected everywhere that are anything but autism-friendly. Think of social exclusion in the workplace because people with autism may experience work drills as too intense. Or over-stimulating classrooms that can make it impossible for autistic pupils to participate in education. The organisation of healthcare can also be a barrier for many people with autism. This is because it is based on human contact. As a result, 85,000 people with autism are unemployed at home, half of all compulsory home school leavers are autistic and people with autism live on average much shorter lives than people without autism. The exact differences in lifespan vary enormously by autism group. For example, you also have autistic people with intellectual disabilities. However, there is no question that people with autism generally live several years shorter than people without autism. All these figures mentioned above - and it is just the tip of the iceberg - culminate in the chilling statistic that as many as 80% of Dutch people with autism have thought or are thinking about suicide. By comparison, in the group of Dutch people without autism, that percentage is 8%. In a Netherlands where we now have to pull out all the stops to ensure that everyone can continue to participate in society, it alarms me that there is still so little attention paid to these figures, and thus to people with autism. Let alone act accordingly.
But does that make all people with autism pathetic and needy? No! Autistic people can be very independent, creative, loyal and honest, and can make a huge contribution to society with their analytical thinking and attention to detail. Of course, again, this does not apply to all autistic people; some have different qualities from others. Nevertheless, there is no doubt that people with autism have unique talents. At the same time, it cannot be denied that these talents and their carriers are massively underestimated, ignored and prejudiced.
Understanding as a solution
Yet hope is shining. After all, the only thing guiding us towards an autism-friendly society is understanding. Be aware of possible prejudices. Open up to your neurodiverse relatives, be interested and, if necessary, ask how you can make things easier for the other person. For example, if necessary, ask how you can help someone calm down on a stimulating day. The quiet rooms at our conferences are a great result of this. With greater understanding, we are heading towards an open society, in which people with autism can participate in their own right and find a helping hand where necessary.
Putting on the Blue Glasses
So, on 2 April, I will reflect on that goal. The colour used on World Autism Day, as described earlier, is blue. This colour symbolises solidarity and awareness, exactly what we need on this important day. We at DWARS also pride ourselves on this colour symbolism: we ourselves, of course, have red (social equality), green (sustainability) and purple (inclusion and diversity). Every day we get up, put the red, green and purple glasses on our noses and try to make the world a little bit better. As DWARSers have a tremendously fine nose for justice, so blue glasses still fit nicely. With these glasses, we always keep that much-needed bit of understanding about autism in the back of our minds, and bring a new, inclusive layer to our activism. So put on those blue glasses today and all the days after!
For this text, I used the following sources:
https://www.autisme.nl/over-autisme/wat-is-autisme/
https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/sociale-wetenschappen/onderzoek/autismeweek
https://www.autisme.nl/2023/03/16/autismeweek-livestream-lezing-prof-dr-sander-begeer/
https://cijfers.nederlandsautismeregister.nl/index.html
https://nar.vu.nl/publicaties_en_resultaten/rapportages