Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders in the world. The WHO’s findings show that one in 100 children has ASD. However, it is also one of the most misunderstood medical conditions ever.
Because of this, individuals with autism are often subjected to various forms of discrimination and abuse. This leaves them feeling alienated from society and meaningful human interactions.
In this post, we’ll walk through and dispel some of the most common myths about Autism Spectrum Disorder. Without further ado, let’s dive right in.
Myth #1: Autism Only Affects Children
Because most cases of autism diagnosis are in children, lots of people erroneously take that to mean autism only affects children. However, this couldn’t be further from the truth. In actuality, autism is a complex condition that affects people differently.
So, in some individuals, the condition manifests quite early, while for others, it could take quite some time before they start exhibiting the tell-tale signs of ASD. So, autism is a condition that most definitely affects both adults and children.
At this point, it is also important to point out that autism isn’t something that affected children “outgrow,” as some people seem to believe. Instead, it is a lifelong condition that cannot be cured or treated. Nor should it since autism isn’t a disease.
Myth #2. People With Autism Don’t Like Other People
Some people believe that individuals with ASD are proud and antisocial, but again, this isn’t true at all. The reality is some individuals affected by ASD find it challenging to initiate or continue social interactions. This is usually either due to extreme shyness or other reasons, like being non-verbal.
Aside from this, some autistic individuals simply cannot process social cues like non-verbal language or tone inflection correctly. This, in turn, becomes a problem when they try to interact with others since they cannot correctly identify and interpret spoken and unspoken social nuances.
Still, for some others, it’s purely a problem of keeping up with the pace of regular conversations. This is usually the case where the autistic individual is non-verbal or only speaks a little. They’ll tend to find that regular conversations proceed too fast for them to keep up with, making understanding very challenging.
Myth #3. Vaccines Cause Autism
The rumor or false belief that vaccines cause autism has been around since 1998 when a paper by Dr. Andrew Wakefield suggested that vaccines cause autism. Now, although this “research” was rapidly proven to be false and fraudulent, the damage had already been done.
But here’s the thing: although we still don’t know why exactly some people have autism, one thing that’s for sure is it has nothing to do with vaccines. In the same vein, also be aware that autism isn’t a disease, so it’s not something you can “catch” like the flu.
Current studies show that autism is a neurological disorder more likely to be gene-based than the result of a measles shot.
Myth #4. Autistic Individuals Are Always Violent
Because of some highly publicized isolated incidences of violence involving people on the spectrum, lots of the general populace believe autism and violence are two sides to the same coin. This is false.
In fact, studies have shown that individuals with autism are more likely to be attacked than be perpetrators of violence. So, unlike what the public media would have you believe, autism doesn’t cause an awakening of violent tendencies.
Now, you may encounter people with autism acting aggressively at some point or the other. However, remember that autistic individuals also have feelings, meaning they can get upset just like you. In fact, those you’ll even find acting violently will likely be responding to something completely different.
Myth #5: People With Autism Are All Geniuses
It is true that most autistic individuals display astonishing proficiency in a particular area of their lives. However, this is more likely due to their intense focus on that area than because they are savants. Some people with ASD actually have high IQs.
However, for others, their talents and strengths may lie in other directions, like a very sharp memory or proficiency in one area of study. Ultimately, it almost always comes down to the personal interest factor.