“Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and autism are both general terms for a group of complex disorders of brain development. These disorders are characterized, in varying degrees, by difficulties in social interaction, verbal and nonverbal communication and repetitive behaviors. They include autistic disorder, Rett syndrome, childhood disintegrative disorder, pervasive developmental disorder-not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS) and Asperger syndrome. With the May 2013 publication of the new DSM-5 diagnostic manual, these autism subtypes will be merged into one umbrella diagnosis of ASD.
ASD can be associated with intellectual disability, difficulties in motor coordination and attention and physical health issues such as sleep and gastrointestinal disturbances. Some persons with ASD excel in visual skills, music, math and art.”
Source – autismspeaks.com
These are the exact words for what Autism Speaks said about autism and what are the signs of it. The dictionary defines ASD as a mental condition, that starts from early childhood. It is characterized by great difficulty in communicating and forming friendships with other kids.
I tell ya, that’s one of the reasons why I titled the book Population: One because at childhood, I was different, and thought that I could befriend with everyone at school. But it turns out that on my mind ASD is not part of the “acceptance list.”
Autism is even defined as a mental condition in which fantasy itself dominates over reality. To be honest, I have seen kids with autism, even teenagers that think about the make believe like art, writing, and other theories they make up. When I was little, I thought there was little tiny people under my car seat that does the heating when I push the butt warmer. Turns out that theory was silly, and I had a different thought about the butt warmer. When I learned more about fantasy dominating reality, I was thinking “What? Say what?” because that sounds like all the people think about is the fantasy. With me, it’s not entirely true, I mean I do think of Donkey Kong being on top of the Burj Khalifa throwing barrels but that’s just for fun. I do think of the reality, but I dream of the impossible just for fun and for a couple of laughs.
Did you know that according to a recent WebMD study, 1 in 88 kids today has autism? For the boys, the numbers is 1 in 54.
Since 2002, you might be pretty surprised that autism or ASD has increased by 78 percent! Can you believe it? 78 is not a small number.
Alright, lets do the numbers here. A high school with 1,000 students enrolled is going to have 11-12 students with autism. A bigger high school with 2,500 students is going to have 28-29 students with autism!
Is this a bad thing? What do you think? You have to decide if this is good, or if it’s bad. Think about it for a moment…
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If this counts as an answer, I’d say that it’s a very different and unique experience don’t you think? A lot of people are not used to change or different, but take it from me, I focus on the reality, and for fun the fantasy makes me creative. Like that Crazy Taxi blog post I posted. I played it, I thought about it, I dreamed it, and I shared it with the world in hopes of a movie. It’s possible, it just needs lots of thinking when it comes to a good plot.
There are high functioning ASD, and then there’s low functioning ASD. Both of these equally have hard times having relationships with other peers. Low functioning ASD means that those who have it can’t talk or walk, or need assistance every minute of the day. High functioning ASD people is when they are very focused in one thing at a time like art, math, science, and other activities that they are masters of. I’ve heard of students that can solve math problems like a calculator. Those are called autistic savants. Bad at socializing but extremely smart. Math is big my friends, that’s why people who are great at math can do a lot of things like house construction, plane building, car manufacturing, and many more ingenious designs that change the world.
I have high functioning autism. So I can still take care of myself but would worry on how to fit in with others. But I can’t spoil my autism on this blog, with this upcoming book, it will show a lot of information of high functioning autism.
If I were to change the ASD acronym just for fun, I call it the “Astounding Superb Dreamer.”
Sure, why not? Most dreams become realities. 😉
