HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — In case you haven't heard, April is Autism Awareness Month or according to the CDC Autism Acceptance Month. It's all about raising awareness to promote autism acceptance, celebrate neurodiversity and individual differences, while keeping connectedness throughout the community at the forefront.
President and Founder of Huntsville Autistic Adults Holly Foshee said some people tend to refer to autistic people as special needs, but Foshee explained that the needs of autistic people are not special. "They may seem special because we need accommodations to meet those needs. sometimes. sometimes they're harder to achieve, but they're not special."
In addition, Foshee continued by explaining just how to refer to an autistic person. "We prefer, autistic person, not person with autism." Foshee started Huntsville Autistic Adults because when she was first diagnosed with autism she couldn't find any resources. "So I had to become those resources. So I may still not get the resources I need and the help I need, but I know that I'm providing that for other autistic adults who are just getting diagnosed and they don't know where to go when they find us and we can walk them through it."
Stacey Kelley is a neurodiversity advocate bringing awareness to the different ways people's brains work. Kelley was diagnosed with autism at age 42 and shares a portion of her experience. "The big thing for me in getting my diagnosis was understanding that I'm not a broken neurotypical. I am actually a fairly successful autistic person, and but my experience isn't like anybody else's. I actually internalized everything, so I was withdrawn. I did not have behavior issues. I just was not very social because I was not very successful at it. And so, I just stopped doing it."
Furthermore, Kelley continued that generally when it comes to a diagnosis, sometimes this is how it typically works. "Generally you're not going to get a diagnosis if it's not disrupting your life, right? It's not a disorder, autism spectrum disorder unless it's impacting the way that you function in the world."