Let's just get one thing clear: I hate Autism Awareness Month. I hate it I hate it I hate it. I hate all the shitty articles with a mouthpiece from Autism Speaks usually providing the information and insulting comparisons to AIDS, cancer, and diabetes. I hate the gaudy, ugly puzzle ribbon and puzzle motif that graces every piece related to autism. I hate those damn chocolate bunnies with the gold foil and red ribbon which gives a sliver of the proceeds to Autism Speaks.
But most of all, I hate how throughout the entire world of mainstream media on autism, they almost never once bother to even obtain the opinion of a single autistic person. Sometimes, an arbitrary mention of Temple Grandin is thrown in. Or there will be a special puff piece on how some autistics -gasp- manage to find employment and lead productive lives, and treating it like a special little miracle. I'll give them that, it is pretty much a miracle for it to happen when everyone goes out of the way to make you feel like a worthless outcast and doesn't bother to accommodate you on the workplace. But I digress.
April is on its way. There's no avoiding that. As much as I would like to take the month off from blogging, unplug my computer, and hide myself in a luxury cabin by a hot spring upon an isolated mountain with nothing but a bottle of sake, some LUSH products, a good book selection, and a supply of my favourite nibbles, I have work to do.
My mission this April: I'm not simultaneously blog and not blog about autism. I'm just going to transform this little space into a happy-fun-time about my life for the month of April. I'll take pictures, enjoy my last few weeks in Missoula, show off photos of my cooking, whatever. What's that got to do with autism, you ask? I'm autistic. Therefore, every action I take is related to autism somehow. It affects my entire being. And you bet that I am going to spend the month demystifying autism, transforming it from a peril felt by unlucky families who feel their lives slipping away, and I'm going to make it as normal and fun as possible.
April, Autism Awareness Month: Bring it on!
You're definitely not alone in your utter frustration at Autism Awareness Month.
ReplyDeleteSeriously, I never knew just how true it was when T. S. Eliot wrote "April is the cruellest month"...
"I'm just going to transform this little space into a happy-fun-time about my life for the month of April."
ReplyDeleteI love that idea! I also agree that just writing about our lives can do a lot of good, and share your attitude that everything I do, and everything I feel, ties into autism somehow, too.