Do first person life stories by Autistic people in nation newspapers and magazines help in our understanding and acceptance of autism, reduce stigma and improve services for autistic people in our societies?
Is there a growing interest by the press to record first person stories about their autism diagnosis journey?
maybe this is just happening in the UK
Hi,
It is now called Autism Spectrum Disorder. People with higher IQs or better functioning might be able to communicate better. As basically it is a disorder affecting human interactions and communication we may not be able to get information about their thoughts and feelings. There could be a lot of repetitions. Nonverbal behavior observation would be a better method to know about their mental life.
I certainly think they can help. The more that people understand the journal of individuals with ASD the more we can appreciate diversity. I have noticed more stories on advancements in employment outcomes with ASD lately, but I am not sure about an overall trend. For instance, I see a lot about individuals with ASD finding employment and colleges that are offering specific tracks for individuals with ASD to help them succeed.
Because it is a spectrum, I am sure there are thousands of individuals who are thriving in various positions without the needs for supports that we are unaware of or who would not be the center of a news story.
Certain news outlets have pages dedicated to ASD research (https://www.usnews.com/topics/subjects/autism).
There also seems to be a growing body of research on ASD and stigma (https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C36&q=autism%2C+stigma&btnG=)
there is a recent Buzz feed article on autistic people sharing diagnosis stories via social media
https://www.buzzfeed.com/andriamoore/people-on-tiktok-are-sharing-autism-diagnosis-stories?utm_source=dynamic&utm_campaign=bfsharecopy
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