Wednesday 2 April 2008

World Autism Day

Today, 2nd April has been declared the first World Autism Awareness Day. I found these interesting facts on the World Autism Awareness Day site.

Did you know…

- Autism affects as many as 1 in 150 children and 1 in 94 boys
- Autism is the fastest-growing serious developmental disability in the world
- More children will be diagnosed with autism this year than with diabetes, cancer, & AIDS combined
- Boys are four times more likely than girls to have autism
- There is no medical detection or cure for autism, but early diagnosis and intervention improve outcomes
- Autism does not discriminate by geography, class, or ethnicity

For more information please take a look at their site here

I had never heard of Asperger Syndrome until my nephew was diagnosed with it as a toddler. A is now fourteen and what he doesn't know about cars isn't worth knowing. He attends a mainstream school and was in the first year of students with special needs to be taught at his school. To my children, he is just A with his own personality, foibles, likes and dislikes. He is a wonderful chap and says it like it is and has certainly helped me to look at life and the people we share it with from a different perspective.

9 comments:

Yvonne said...

Your post is a lovely tribute to your nephew. I was watching some programmes on CNN about autism but I didn't know today was Autism Awareness Day. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

Fantastic post! Very close to my own heart due to my daughter having been diagnosed with autism nearly 5 years ago. We live with it. We have no choice. But we wouldn't have it any other way. She is a wonderful human being and could put the world to shame. I am glad you mentioned about there being no cure for autism. There isn't. And even though we all wish our children to be born perfect in every way, reality is very different which is something we need to make people aware of.

Crystal xx

Deborah Carr (Debs) said...

yvonne - thank you, he is a wonderful chap.

crystal jigsaw - thank you crystal, I was a little nervous and wasn't sure what to say initially. I love reading your blog and was so sad to read about Treate.

Lane Mathias said...

Great post Debs. It through posts like these - and other bloggers writing about Autism and Aspergers, that we can all learn.
Thanks:-)

Deborah Carr (Debs) said...

lane - thanks. I think its a wonderful idea to have a specific day to draw awareness to autism.

Karen said...

My friend's daughter is autistic, so it's a subject close to my heart too :o)

Deborah Carr (Debs) said...

karen - mine too.

Anonymous said...

Yes its amazing how many people still dont know or understand what it actually means! I had a woman once who said to me "Oh your sons Artistic?" and if you think that was bad she then thought that he flapped his hands as he "loved the Lord!"

Deborah Carr (Debs) said...

motherx - I think that there are people who dont understand and then there are complete nincompoops.