What is Autism Awareness/Acceptance Month?

Are we preaching to the choir?  Which means, are we talking about autism awareness to people already in the autism community?

Granted, this creates a sense of togetherness, makes us feel good, but does it reach people we want to be aware of autism and to help them understand and accept autism?  I write this blog, which I hope helps parents of children on the spectrum to understand that I was a non-verbal child and still gave my mother grandchildren.  Well, I did give her headaches as a teenager, but she has long forgiven me.

I spent 20 years in public relations (PR), primarily as a strategist, and I was good at it, so I view the whole autism awareness and acceptance concepts from a professional perspective also.

What about those people “out there” who have likely heard the word “autism,” but have no clue what it is, and what our community faces?  What do they know about the divisiveness in our community?

Some of those people see the highly publicized “light it up blue” campaigns for Autism Speaks.  But, if I were one of those people not aware of autism the way we are, what does it mean that the Empire State Building is lit up with blue lights?  I would think, “Oh pretty.” and keep walking without enlightenment or acceptance.

In the PR world, a campaign such as the blue one requires multiple “impressions” on people’s minds, so there is a tiny chance that the passers-by would connect autism and the blue Empire State Building.

Now, take the Autism Society’s quieter approach that does not focus on fundraising, but works with real-life autistic people instead.  Many in the autism community support them because they are focused on the autistic person, not a cure.  Those who raise money for Autism Speaks support research for a cure.  Changes in legislation for autism-related issues, they both do.

So, those people, who don’t know about these sorts of distinctions such as the one between Autism Speaks and The Autism Society, will only pick up on the messages that resonate with them without distinction based on the factions among us.

It comes down to the promotion of the fittest.  An example would be Jenny McCarthy, actress, Playboy model, who has pushed the concept that vaccines cause autism.  She is the ex-girlfriend of the actor Jim Carrey, who has an autistic son.  So, she has the pull to do the round of talk shows pushing this theory, even though the research on this concept was debunked.

So, those people out there may have seen Jenny once and believe that vaccines cause autism without knowing more on the subject.  Since then, I know of two families who have chosen not to vaccinate their kids because they fear the risk of autism.

Goodness, I don’t know the answers because there aren’t any.  Again, we’re split into factions and divided we fall.

One thing we all agree on is the concept of autism awareness and autism acceptance.

My next blog post will be about what I have done to educate with ideas of how you can too.  Hint:  I have access to the media.