Ok, here comes Ol' JazzCoon to be a party-pooper, but if kids and people with Autism are just like you and me, and deserve respect like anyone else, and take the same classes in school as we do, why do they still get special treatment? Thats what I don't get, and I'm not even autistic. (Bum bum tsh!). I'm not even trying to flame-bait here, itsa a real question. At my school at least, thats how it is. Kid has autism? Sure, go ahead and cut to the front of the line. Whats that? You're autistic? Sure, free 100 for "being you." If thei like you and me, they should be treated the same. Thats all I'm saying. Sorry if I offended anybody.

The child of a friend of mine has autism. I scored medium-high on a test for Asperger's, but like many here, I don't consider that a problem that needs fixing. I do think that it would be a good thing if those with profound autism could have something to help them interact a little better with others - imagine what fabulous ideas and abilities could be locked away, just because of the communication gap!

I have a cousin who is autistic, and I also find it terrible that people would make fun of someone because of this. I hang out with him all the time and have discovered that he is a really smart kid, and although he has trouble reading and writing he is a very logical and smart human being.

I think it's really rude and uncool when people make fun of people with autism or whatever else. Sure they have a disability and you may feel uncomfortable around them but you really shouldn't be mean to them just for that, I mean come on people.

I'd think that anyone who makes fun of autistic people is a jerk. I'd punch jerks like that if I get the chance

People with autism are humans, it is not right to make fun of them because of their condition.

I think people with differences are AWESOME. I saw a dude with a prosthetic leg the other day and thought wow that's cool. I mean, I'm sure he'd rather have a normal leg, and I certainly wouldn't chop off my own leg to get one, but I didn't feel sorry for him, I thought it was pretty cool.
Two of my best friends are autistic, maybe that's just because I'm weird enough that they're the kind of people who would hang out with me. They're both pretty mild, one of them made up his own scale and set himself equal to 1 Autistic. He ranked me as a .5, which is to say that I'm not actually autistic, but I act sort of like I am. Anyway, they're both REALLY smart, I'm pretty smart too, and I'd say I'm lucky to be smart without the social problems, but I have plenty of social problems anyway, so I'm not entirely sure what the distinction between autistic and not autistic is. And my brother's girlfriend is mentally challenged, but she's pretty awesome too. Even calling her "mentally challenged" though seems to carry a negative connotation, is there any word for that that isn't offensive at all?

With anything involving different levels of ability, there really isn't a 'bright line' to separate one level from the next. You can say that 'blind' means someone who can't see, but then there are people who have to wear really thick glasses (and these are the Featherweights!) - are they blind? Maybe, maybe not. If they aren't, then what about people who can't have their vision corrected even with glasses - but they can still make out shapes? You can fillet it down to a different 'level' for each individual person.

Mental abilities are even harder to categorize. We can agree that the person scoring 100% is 'good' at something, and the person scoring 0% is 'bad' at something, but what about the person scoring 75%? Problems with interactions - are we talking about familiar people? Strangers? Angry strangers? Familiar setting? Unfamiliar setting? Stressful setting? Online? Offline?

Personally, I'm terribly shy offline, but I can get downright chatty on forums. I know more than a few people with Aspergers that are the same way (one pointed out that his biggest problem was emotional cues, so the Internet leveled the playing field.)

As for 'what to call' someone with a condition - do we really need to have a word? Why not just call them 'my classmate', 'my relative, or 'my friend'?

I know someone who "has Autism", that is me.

Yea, that was not a typo. I don't know if that is true or the Doctor marked me wrong, as I been known to be very mature for my age.

The result of that was studying in another, mainstream but special school that focus on Autism.

Sometimes I tease people in class because they answer a question weirdly or did their homework with funny answers, but I would do the same to normal people, I do respect Austic people, just not that much, I only know they see the world differently, but you have to treat them the same as normal people if they can handle and understand it.

That explains why I was such a noob when I 1st came to Vizzed and how I don't make sense or reply to threads in a different manner then others, I (am suppose to) see the world differently.

I still think that Doctor marked me wrong.

In short, I respect Austic people and hope that whatever I teased them won't get onto their feelings, I was just doing it to MAKE YOU STAY FOCUS AND NOT STAY IN YOUR DREAMLAND.

Also, almost everyone I know in my school loves Lego, dunno if that has something to do with Autism or just loving lego .

Didowe : What does loving legos have to do with Autism??? I love legos and I'm not autistic

JazzCoon : Oh I agree, but you see. Autism has a HUGE scope... not sorry let me put it in another way.

There is a HUMONGUS, GIGANTIC, ORANGEBANANA CRAZY, WTF, HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGEEEE!!!! Scope of different levels of autims.

My little brother has autism but a mild one, I treat him not like every other person but harsher, it´s better I´m mean to him for his behaviour 500 times in a row than if some stranger is mean to him because of it, because I know he can change out of his habits and such that are related to his autism, I´ve changed many things about him, forced him to repress habits and made fun of him many times, and it works, he feels bad about it and learns to stop doing it.

Am I a bad person ? Nah I don´t think so, he hates me as it is but he doesn´t act weird around his friends and classmates nearly as much as before I started acting like I do towards him, I ofc sometimes act like a good older brother should but I don´t cut him any slack.

Then there are kids with a high level of autism, those you can´t change, but those are likely not to get any special treatment for grades or any either since they are likely to be kept at home if they are very bad, but as I´ve said there are huge differences between each individual with autism and it can be hard to find out how to treat each and every different person with autism.

Oh, and special treatment doens´t have to be good treatment, but autistic people can need a bit of "special treament" now and then.

Well, I knew a guy that was, well, kinda a jerk. This was a LOOOONG time ago, like, 4th grade. You see, we had an Autistic kid in our class. And Mr. Jerk (it was such a long time ago I forgot his name) decided to announce out loud that Autistic people were a "waste of human space". WTF? YOU'RE a waste of space. Just because they are different doesn't mean that they are waste. They are human beings, just like you and me.

I understand, both my brother and best friends brother suffer from Autism although in my brother's case it is a 'mild' version called Aspergers.

It is a condition which is suffered tremendously by the family who have to care for the person and behin closed doors.

The best book to read to gain insight is The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Middle of the Night by Mark Haddon

I think it's really wrong to bash autistic people, they're just like us. I also don't like people that go on about how much like us they are. One of my best friends are autistic, and he's a really nice person.

I know someone who is autistic but I barely talk to her since I never see her except for study hall which we have to be silent for. But I feel really bad for her, since there are some people who make fun of her and it's not her fault. I HATE it when people are making fun of autistic people and it just makes me angry. Autistic people are amazing to be able to live life like they do.

It disgusts me when people harass others based on something like autism. My cousin has autism, but he's not in grade school yet so he hasn't really reached an age where there are bullies yet.

His mom was harassed once though. The kid just did something she wasn't expecting and the neighbor said something like, "What's wrong with you? Don't you know he's disabled?"

That is the kind of person that I sincerely hate.


Update-
I have a friend who was seriously harassed for being autistic. He trusted me with details, so I won't be sharing what happened. Needless to say, I am disgusted by how heartless some people can be.

Update 2-
I've learned a lot more about what my friend has been through. I heard someone else discussing how his life had been and just listening to it was infuriating. They took everything out of proportion to make it look like he was a lot worse off than he actually was.

Since then, my attitude has adjusted slightly. If anyone dares to speak out against someone with any form of autism, I promise you will regret it. Don't dare test me.

People with autism seem to get picked on the most, my brother and my best friend are both autistic and they get picked on a lot. Quite the haters.

My older sister, she can be difficult, but shes's really sweet and smart. why, she tolerates me better than most older sisters ever would! she's very outgoing and social.

I have ADD to i may have a tiny bit ADHD, but I don't think anymore about the last one. I used to have this friend that had a younger sister who was severely mentally and physically handicapped. It was the saddest thing, and it was always so cool of him, how he would watch out for her, and love her. I have strong feelings towards anyone who has relatives that have a handicap, like autism and I hate people who make fun of them for it. Not cool.

my cousin is autistic she can't speak properly she's like 1 or 2 months older than me but she's just as smart as you and me

Excuse me for reviving an old thread.    I was diagnosed with Aspberger's Syndrome, a high-functioning form of autism, when I was 10 years old.  I never thought much about it then.  I always remember being told that it is not a mental disability but merely a different way of thinking.  I was never bullied for my autism, but I was bullied for the way I acted.  My parents did the right thing when they saw the extent of the problem.  They found a better crowd for me to hang with.  I joined a social club that was specifically for people with autism like me.  And that was where I found two of my closest friends.