Today is the 2nd April 2014, the 7th Annual World Autism Awareness Day and my first as an officially diagnosed Aspie.
World Autism Awareness Day is one day a year where nations, groups and individuals around the world aim to increase awareness of Autism Spectrum Disorders amongst the rest of the unknowing world population. The Autistic Spectrum includes a variety of categories from Autism to Asperger’s and around 1 in 100 people are on it.
Why Blog About This On One Life Success?
So this is a website dedicated to success and achievement, why am I writing to you about World Autism Awareness Day? Well, if you’re a long time reader of One Life Success you may have read our Asperger’s Week Series of Posts last year and if so you will know I have over the past year gained my official diagnosis of Asperger’s.
I believe Asperger’s affects me well, it’s from the high functioning end of the spectrum and although it has its pro’s and con’s, as I spoke about with Aimee in our Q&A of Asperger’s last year, I believe it has played a huge part in my successes to date and that it will carry on doing so into the future too.
So with that, from both the personal side of my recent diagnosis and the serious one of the potential benefits having an awareness of it could bring to any one you, I write about this to you today! Raising awareness for the benefit of all.
What is the Spectrum & Who’s on it?
Many of the world most famous, successful and world changing people have come from a background of Aspeger’s, but some have come from Autism to. I spoke about some of those affected by Asperger’s, including people such as Thomas Edison, Michael Jackson, Stephen Spielberg and Mark Zuckerberg here last year: 20 Asperger’s Famous People Who We All Know
But in this post I would like to talk about the autism Spectrum as a whole and as said above, the Autism Spectrum is a range of categories and people.
As an umbrella, it covers both Asperger’s and Autism but ranges all the way from Classic Autism at one end of the scale, to High Functioning Autism including Asperger’s at the other.
People on the spectrum see the world differently to others who are not (These people are commonly called Neurotypicals by Aspies!) and thus often work in and react to it differently then would be expected by a ‘Neurotypical’ person.
This difference can often cause problems between the two, as it did for myself and my parents as a child. Problems arise as differences are made and due to the unawareness and thus inconsideration of the two sides of the people involved, issues arise. Thus, it is the creating of this new awareness which is most important about Global Autism Awareness Day and really, it’s what the day is all about.
Characteristics of People on the Spectrum
Characteristics are different for every individual on the Spectrum, that’s why it’s a spectrum and not just a set category. However, common characteristics do exist and these can include difficulty with social interaction, a love for repetition, having obsessional special interests, being logically minded, having perfectionism in certain areas, experiencing sudden shifts in mood, having a resistance to directions/authority and having no respect for the status-quo.
Again, not all people are the same and everyone on the spectrum has their own set of traits. Not only does the category of Asperger’s have a different set of ‘common traits’ to the category of Autism, but each individual in each category under the autism spectrum umbrella has their own individual traits to. Not one individual Aspie is the same and neither is one individual with Autism.
You can find more about the ‘common traits’ of people from the Autism Spectrum here.
Light It Up Blue!
So in conclusion, just be aware of the Autism Spectrum! That’s the whole point of today, because Awareness of Autism can make life so much easier for all who have or know someone how has it. By being aware of Autism, it’s traits and the successes for some people it brings, you can also learn and build your personality of traits for success from it to.
Aimee spoke last year about learning from asperger’s in our Asperger’s Week Series and really, as with all things, by widening your horizons to other people and issues around the globe, we in all integrity can grow as people and in truth, get ever closer to that person and success that we want to be.
So today, on Global Autism Awareness Day, Light It Up Blue, celebrate with us and make the world that little bit more aware of Autism and it’s values.
Join us on Twitter , where we’ll be taking part in all the #LIUB and #GlobalAutismAwarenessDay discussion and tweets! Or Drop us a comment below. We look forward to hearing from you!
Wrote by Joe Brown
