Autism is not a psychiatric issue. In fact, it is a neurological issue. To be exact, it is a neurodevelopmental disorder that prevents an autistic child from having a normal brain development. Unlike some psychiatric issues that may be cured, neurological issues involve a disorder of the brain itself as an organ, not just the emotions or perception of life.
Normal people, or neurotypical people, are blessed to be able to express every need and wish verbally and to not get judged by every movement or action made. Autistic people have their needs, wishes and hopes, too, yet, they’re unable to articulate it well.
They express themselves through their actions by jumping up and down, or staring intently at the object or person. This is not because they are not taught to express themselves properly, but their brains cannot process the trigger, emotion and action like other people do.
Is it their fault that their brains don’t work like they want them to? Can you blame a person for being born the way he or she is? Provided that you have a sufficient amount of consciousness and compassion, the answer should be no.
It is not uncommon to see people associating autism with other psychiatric disorders, thinking that autism will be cured with just some simple medications or maybe relaxation and meditation techniques.
It is also not uncommon to see people joking about autism, as if autism equals insanity. Please stop as nobody chooses to be autistic.
An autistic person is still a human being. They deserve respect, love and care just like everyone else.
Though I might not fully understand the feelings of autistic individuals, I do know that everybody needs to feel that they belong as nobody likes to be alienated.
During these trying times, this pandemic period, we often hear cries from parents of autistic children on their children regressing after missing almost one full year of therapy. Added with the economic challenges, with parents losing jobs, the past year has been tough, but especially tougher on families with autistic children.
It is not hard to be compassionate and respectful, but it is hard to live in a world where nobody understands you and you’re unable to express yourself clearly. That’s the world of autistic individuals. And just because we are not living in that world, does not mean that we cannot empathise with them.
Be kind, be safe and take care of one another.
Munqiza Naqhiya is a research executive at Yayasan Pendidikan INSANI.
The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.