To be pissed off with all this Autism awareness stuff on Facebook etc.

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Let me start by saying I have a daughter with autism and my youngest is showing signs of where we were with dd1 3 years ago. I am so pissed off and probably bitter at seeing all these shit posts about autism awareness from People who have no idea that this condition can affect every aspect of lives. People with children who don't have additional needs and sleep more than 3 hours a night. I'm just ranting I think so no flaming bit it bloody annoys me. I go on Facebook to catch up with friends etc, not be reminded yet again about this thing hanging over our family. I'm probably being unreasonable.

YABU

My teenage daughter has shared these posts. She has aspergers. All she wants is done understanding (& she'd love some friends too)

YABU. I shared these posts as my little nephew has autism. None of my own children do but I didn't think that meant I couldn't try and raise more awareness. I also do my best to educate myself about the condition and can see the effects it has on the whole family.

Exactly ballet her repost comes from a good place, in that she wants people to understand her. The next person is in a different place and hates these posts because they don't want it in their face because sometimes disabilities are all consuming and zap every last bit of energy and you just want a little respite.

Your dd should absolutely continue doing what she's doing because it's helpful to her and for those that hate them they can hide them.

Personally I just wish that that autism had some of the positive, hard hitting, clever marketing, attention grabbing militancy of some of the other public and charitable bodies raising funds and awareness in their fields. I just don't feel we have that for autism. I know MN have "This is my child" but apart from the initial launch I've heard nothing from it apart from on here. Autism needs a strong voice not just for people with autism but for everyone, there is so much mis-information nonsense, because there is no one single strong and coordinated campaign.

Everyone at some point will encounter someone with autism and that's why it needs a better and bigger voice.

fanjo people who post that shit are ignorant twats.

I have a child with autism and although I am not anti-autism awareness per se (quite the opposite!), I have un-liked and hidden from timeline all the autism awareness stuff on FB, because as far as I can see it is just endless 'personal stories' of the hardships of parents of kids with ASC, with the odd 'against all the odds my DC with ASC has got into uni' type good news story.

I dont need to be told the horror stories every day. Its depressing.
And I dont need to hear the good news stories every day either. I find it patronising.
AND I dont see how people 'liking' a page saying 'support autistic kids' or whatever is actually doing anything....maybe thats just me being miserable...

I'm not attacking the people who contribute to these things. I am all for people connecting over shared experiences and telling their stories if they find it helpful. But I think maybe because my son isnt little any more and we have had his diagnosis for a while, I just dont feel the need to contribute myself. He is autistic. Its who he is, but its not the whole story. And Its not a news story.

I am also more interested in what people with autism have to say about their lives than what other 'autism mums' have to say, really, if I am honest.

Dd has been incredibly inspired recently by an autistic dancer who she knows. His story is being publicised at the moment because of a certain achievement & he has done a lot for an autistic charity to raise awareness.

It gives her hope.

I have a friend who has two children with ADHD, one of whom also has autism and severe dyslexia.
She also has a 6 month old baby with a severe physical disability.

She, the mum, also has dyslexia, which wasn't diagnosed when she was a child so she was just sent to a 'special' school.

Can anyone give me any clues as to how I can help her?
Have found it a bit bizarre finding online 'help', which she can't read!

Bewitched copy and paste your post and put it onto the SN board as a new thread.
I've learned everything about how to support my Ds from that board.

People on the autism spectrum are all individuals and affected in different ways. A parent with a non verbal teen who is still in nappies has a tough existence. Someone with Asperger's syndrome will have a completely different set of difficulties. People with autism often experience unfair discrimination. In some contexts the term "autistic" used like how "spaz" was used in the 80s.

Some autism charities behave disgracefully towards people with autism. There have been issues with charities like autism speaks or even the national autistic society.

Thank you Frizzcat very much.

That would be very helpful for me, but not for my 'friend' who is the mum with dyslexia.

My contact with this family is limited by the organisation that I volunteer with.

I'm at my wit's end trying to think of a sustainable way to help.

Totally agree Reallytired I've had my own really negative experience with NAS, I wouldn't give them the time of day again.

Also agree with the term "autistic" being used in a derogatory manner - I was just watching Newzoids tonight on ITV and the used autistic in their skit with Benedict Cumberbatch.
Frankie Boyle said something along the lines of the bible being so ridiculous that it must have been written by an autistic man.
Stephen Fry on QI - Johnny Vaughan was talking about a brilliant and long since passed scientist. Vaughan mentioned that there was speculation that the scientist may have had autism and that he'd been utterly brilliant in his field. Stephen Fry responded by saying "yes he was utterly brilliant, but you wouldn't trust him to sit the right way round on a toilet" I never watched QI or another of his programs again and I was a huge fan of his.

This is why I feel autism needs a much stronger and forceful voice. It is not ok laugh at autism it is no different to racism, homophobia or sexism because they all have the same component, you can not change the way you were born and quite frankly why the fuck should you?

Bewitched people on the SN board may be aware of organistions who can intervene and support the lady and her children. Information you of course would see here, but could then pass to her or help her make contact with them?

Have a break from Facebook Op - you could keep in touch with friends/family through email etc.
These people mean no harm and are probably trying to share the awareness out of kindness but Facebook is all about perspective and we all have different views on that.

I will pursue your suggestions Frizz thank you.

Most Facebook awareness is shit though isn't it, I tune out for anything that's 'raising awareness post this if u care scroll on if u r hartless'.

DH had cancer last year. Do you know, it didn't seem to make any difference where I left my handbag or what colour my bra was!! He is ok now but no thanks to faceshitbook.

I don't have Facebook - we're all fighting our own battles and coping in different ways.

YABU. Raising awareness is one of the best ways to increase funding and knowledge. If your child didn't have access to the brilliant programs which are available today, you'd be wishing facebook et al would highlight the problem.

I saw a post the other day saying how parents with children with autism understand that routines must be stuck to. Well DA has ASD and has no more issues than the average child with a change in routine. Every child with ASD is different - what's true for some is not true for others

It annoys me that people might read those posts and assume they apply yo DS.

I never know what to do, because this has upset the OP, but at the same time I want to show support and some parent's of children with autism welcome it

I always thought raising awareness was a good thing, I certainly welcome it when it comes to something like bi-polar.

But obviously this is having a negative impact on some people, so what can we do about it, has anyone any ideas? Is there anything we can change, get better at?

I have a dislike of any 'raising awareness' stunts. It is often the worse kind of 'slacktivisim'..... the type of people that do it are the ones who want to be SEEN to be doing something positive but without putting any real thought or effort in. Facebook is terrible for this type of bullshit.

People still don't have a clue about autism though ds had a minor op this morning we went through his usual medical history that he has a diagnosis of autism , learning difficulties and a rare chromosome disorder etc whilst in recovery the nurses were asking how he was diagnosed then said he will probably have an amazing talent !these are paediatric nurses if they dont have a clue god help the rest of the population I share stuff to try an educate priolw a little.

People ffs!

Totally agree x2boys. I was in hospital recently and it was an absolute nightmare and they just didn't understand ASD/Asperger's at all. I had a nurse arguing with me that the food was fine - when I'd explained I have issues with texture and frankly the food was vile slop- then tell me she'd be getting the nutritionist down then if I wouldn't eat. Rage. Then they wondered why I wasn't coping when they put me on a noisy ward with people who screamed constantly (not their fault, severe dementia I think) but for me that was horrendous.

It's scary how many medical professionals didn't get it at all.

Frightening isn't it statisticallychallenged?some People still think rainman when they think of autism .