April is Autism Awareness Month. Autism Speaks lit the way with the third annual “Light It Up Blue” campaign on April 2. We mark the occasion with a section of tools, inspiration, and hope.
The National Autism Awareness Month is April. We rounded up a selection of tools, inspiration, and hope to mark kick off the month and help in educating the public about autism and the issues that surround it.
Below is information on how to prevent weight gain in kids with autism, information about a new book that showcases beautiful artwork by individuals on the spectrum, an inspirational story about Temple Grandin, a woman who embraced autism and changed the world, and more.
Artful Awareness: A New Book Showcasing Art by Individuals on the Spectrum
Light It Up Blue with Autism Speaks
Getting to Know an Icon: Temple Grandin
A Father’s Perspective on His Child’s Autism Diagnosis
‘How to Talk to an Autistic Kid’ by Daniel Stefanski
How Kids with Special Needs Can Build Healthy Friendhips
A Voice Freed by Technology
“I am an autistic girl, but autism doesn’t define who I am or how I am going to live my life,” says Carly Fleischmann, a teenager with autism who has harnessed the power of modern technology to have her voice heard. With almost 23,000 followers on Twitter (@CarlysVoice) alone, this 17-year-old phenom—who is non-verbal and was also recently diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder—reaches a broad audience with her message of hope.
Carly Fleischmann pictured with her father, Arthur Fleischmann
| “THE ARROGANCE AND VITRIOL sometimes witnessed towards parents from academics or professionals, and even from parent to parent, is astounding. If we could stop all this bickering we might be able to get some decent science underway…. I’m so weary of people judging the decisions we’ve made so far. My unique child and my unique decisions should be honored. We’re all crossing unkown frontiers, adrift in the same vast ocean of conflicting opinions.”
—anonymous “Spectrum Mummy,” in “Why We Strive,” April-May 2012 The Autism File magazine |
In the new must-read book, “Carly’s Voice: Breaking Through Autism” her father, Arthur Fleischmann, shares the family’s struggles and triumphs. After a breakthrough when Carly was 10—she typed out “H-E-L-P T-E-E-T-H H-U-R-T” on a computer, her first real communication up to that point—her family began to know the Carly inside. As Temple Grandin remarked upon reading, the book “makes it very clear that a non-verbal person with autism has a rich inner life…a good mind has been freed.”
