On Autism

Serena C.,15, HKIS

Autism, a condition believed to stem from variations in early brain development, is characterized by a wide spectrum of social impairments. The most common ones are talking to oneself in public, occasional uncontrollable outbursts of emotion, and an inability to sense others’ emotions. Because of this, it is quite hard for autistic people to find jobs, interact with others, and live an independent life. There are estimated to be 200,000 autistic teenagers set to come of age in the United States alone over the next five years, and the question looms above us: What are we going to do with them? Although autistic people have trouble interacting with others and sensing emotions, it doesn’t mean they are not smarter than we are. We need to give them a chance. If we don’t start accepting autistic people for schools and jobs, there will be nowhere for them to go.

Some say that society can benefit if we do not accept people whose brains function differently. Autistic people would have trouble fitting in with the general public. In schools, autistic students would require more attention from the teacher and would need things to be explained more than once. In the workplace, autistic people would have trouble focusing with so many other people around them, and conflicts could arise between them and their colleagues.

However, these views toward autistic people have stemmed from negative stereotypes associated with those who are diagnosed with diseases. Just because they communicate in different ways does not mean we should treat them as children or look down on them. Autistic people are not mentally disabled or mentally challenged; in fact, many of them are extremely good in math and science. These stereotypes are unjust and have no basis in facts, and because of them there is now a widespread, wrongful perception of autistic people.

Isolating autistic people from society is an unethical, blatant form of discrimination. Autistic people—like everyone else—have certain individual talents. When hiring or reading school applications we need to keep in mind that they can still do normal things and have potential. For example, there are two people going for the same job as a computer programmer. One of them is completely normal, and one of them has slight autism. However, they both have the same qualificat6ions and are very talented. The company hires the one without autism. Is this not a form of discrimination? The company is being prejudiced against the person even when he is just as talented as the other. If this company thinks this way, there are definitely going to be others who think the same. This brings us to the question: What are autistic people going to do?

We need to give autistic people a chance to live an independent life. This means taking their condition into consideration and giving them certain benefits. Autistic people have the right to an education and jobs and we cannot take that away from them. Schools and workplaces should give autistic people more of a chance to gain a position, because if we don’t accept them, they will have nowhere to go. The government should start more programs to help them transition into adulthood and deal with their autism.

As human beings, autistic people have the right to an education, jobs, friends, and most of all: respect. We need to throw away the negative stereotypes associated with autistic people and treat them no less than we would treat another human being.