By: Pearl Polito
For November’s blog post, I wanted to focus on a topic that was brought up in our recent webinar, ‘Neurodiversity Unlocked: Embracing Differences and Exploring Treatments’. Misconceptions surrounding autism and other neurological disorders can be detrimental to an individual’s mental health who is living with that condition. So, I believe it is so important for us as a community to know about the common misconceptions and stereotypes surrounding autistic individuals so we can be better prepared to advocate for others in times of need.
I’ll first briefly describe what autism actually is. The full name for this neurodevelopmental condition is Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The reason we call it a spectrum disorder is to emphasize the wide range of abilities, challenges, and characteristics that individuals with ASD can experience. People with autism experience a wide variety of symptoms that can include different variations in social communication, behavior, cognitive and sensory sensitivities
Now that we have a better understanding of what autism is, let's get into the common myths and misconceptions associated with this condition:
All autistic people are the same.
This is a very common misconception. Society can have certain ideas on how they expect all individuals with autism to behave and act, but the truth is that autism includes a wide range of symptoms and abilities. No two people with autism are going to exhibit the exact same characteristics. Individuals with autism display different combinations of both challenges and strengths. This myth can be harmful to the mental health of individuals with autism because they may feel that something is wrong with them if they are exhibiting different characteristics than other people with the same condition. This can lead to both anxiety and depression.
2. Autism is a disease that needs to be cured.
This is a very unfortunate and harmful myth in our society surrounding autistic individuals. Autism is not a defect or abnormality but a natural variation of the human experience. Individuals may have challenges throughout their lives, but they also have many unique strengths. Autism is not something that we need to take away from a person, it is part of who they are and how they experience the world.
3. Autistic people lack empathy.
This is a common myth because of the different ways that autistic people feel and express emotions than neurotypical people. Research shows that autistic individuals carry intense empathy that can sometimes be overwhelming and that they also may express it in different ways. So, it's not that they aren’t feeling empathy towards others, it's that other people in society are misinterpreting their empathy for something else entirely. This misconception can be harmful by creating a stereotype that autistic people are unfeeling, cold individuals. When in fact they are warm, caring, and exhibit a full range of emotions.
4. Autistic people cannot form meaningful relationships.
This builds off from myth #3. Autistic individuals express their emotions in different ways, which can make the dating and romantic world more challenging. However, many individuals with autism have strong and fulfilling relationships with others. Love on the Spectrum on Netflix is a wonderful and informative documentary that follows the lives of autistic people as they navigate the dating scene while also showing autistic couples who have been married for years. This can of course be a harmful misconception as it may hurt a person with autism’s self-esteem and enforce a false belief that they can never experience love and friendship.
5. Autism is a childhood disorder.
Autism is a lifelong condition that the needs of autistic individuals may alter as they move through different stages of their lives. This misconception can lead to harm because it can lead to our society believing that accommodations for autistic people should stop after education, when truthfully accommodations should be made in the workforce as well to ensure the success of autistic individuals.
Thank you for reading through and I hope you found this post helpful in understanding autism more and how we can help to break down these common misconceptions and stereotypes. If you are looking for more information on autism and neurodiversity, please check out the recording of our recent webinar, ‘Neurodiversity Unlocked, Embracing Differences and Exploring Treatments’, which will be posted on allowhealth.net soon!
References:
Ignacio, A. (2024) Wired Differently: The Truth About Neurodiversity. Independently Published.
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