Understanding Autism for Dummies

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While it’s often impressive to others, it may limit the amount you feel you can contribute to conversations beyond your favorite subjects. Trying to relate to people who don’t understand your interests may feel tedious or incredibly challenging. It might even lead you to avoid social interactions. Repetitive behavior Rely on close friends. Socializing can also be good for your mood, as long as the people you’re with don’t stress you out. Find people who share your interests. Thanks to the Internet, it’s easy to find people in your local area who share your interests. If possible, look for conventions or other gatherings where people who share your hobby come together and interact in person. In some cases, you might only recognize your own ASD symptoms when you have a child diagnosed. Experts haven't yet decided on standard criteria to diagnose adults who believe they have ASD. However, a clinician may borrow some of the criteria used to diagnose children, such as experiencing problems with social communication, exhibiting restricted, repetitive behaviors, and any sensory issues. Parents and doctors sometimes miss the symptoms of autism in children who are “high functioning”—meaning they're able to move through the world without assistance. You may hear this referred to as Asperger’s syndrome, a formal diagnosis that is now categorized under the broader umbrella of ASD.

Understanding Autism - SAGE Publications Ltd Understanding Autism - SAGE Publications Ltd

All rights reserved. HELPGUIDE.ORG INTERNATIONAL is a tax-exempt 501(c)3 organization (ID #45-4510670). Our content does not constitute a medical or psychological consultation. See a certified medical or mental health professional for diagnosis. Learn more. Being autistic does not mean you have an illness or disease. It means your brain works in a different way from other people. Autism affects the way a person communicates and how they experience the world around them. It is considered a spectrum condition. While autistic people share some similar characteristics, they are also all different from each other. The autism spectrum isn't linear from high to low but varies, just as one person might vary from another. By the end of the strategy, we want many more organisations, businesses and public sector services to have become autism-inclusive, so that autistic people can engage in their communities, just like everyone else. This will mean taking part in initiatives like Autism Hour, the Autism Friendly Award or taking other steps to become more autism-aware. In 5 years’ time, we want to show that autistic people feel more able to take part in their communities than they do today, including feeling more comfortable using public transport. As government, we will lead the way in becoming more inclusive to autistic people and will improve ministers’ and policy makers’ understanding of autism. We will do so by encouraging ministers across departments to undertake the APPGA’s Understanding Autism sessions, and increasing recognition and representation of neurodiversity across government departments. To raise the profile of neurodiversity including autism, across the Civil Service we will encourage the establishment of a neurodiversity priority for Disability and Inclusion Champions within government departments. These champions, who are senior civil servants, will increase awareness of neurodiversity and engage with neurodivergent staff through staff networks to ensure their needs are being considered and heard.In addition, we want to ensure that autistic people can get the adaptations or extra support they need while in work, or to get into work. As government, we will lead the way in becoming a more autism-inclusive employer by expanding our Autism Exchange Internship Programme, which is aimed at providing more autistic people with experience of working in the Civil Service. We will also begin to collect data on the number of autistic people working in our departments to understand further improvements we may need to make to recruit and support autistic people. This new strategy aligns with the existing statutory guidance on implementing the Autism Act for local authorities and NHS organisations to support implementation of the Adult Autism Strategy (2015). This sets out local authorities’ and NHS organisations’ duties to support autistic adults and remains in force, which means that local systems should continue to deliver on existing requirements, including having active Autism Partnership Boards in local areas. This guidance will be reviewed in subsequent years of the strategy, to ensure it aligns with actions we take in implementation plans for years 2 and beyond. Meanwhile, for children, the Special Educational Needs and Disability ( SEND) Code of Practice (2015), continues to place duties on local authorities, NHS organisations and schools in respect of autistic children and young people.

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take action to strengthen and promote pathways to employment, such as Supported Internships, Traineeships and apprenticeships, and work to support all local areas to develop Supported Employment Forums We will set measures of success for each of the priority areas in the strategy to make sure we can effectively monitor progress in year one and beyond, being clear about what we expect to achieve by 2026. This is important in knowing and demonstrating that we are making a difference to autistic people and their families’ lives. By the end of this strategy, we want life to be fundamentally better for autistic people, their families and carers. We want to be able to demonstrate that we have transformed autistic people and their families’ lives by: Improving understanding and acceptance of autism within society We are deeply grateful for Dame Cheryl’s tireless work to improve support and services for autistic people and their families across the country, in particular for the inquiries she led as Chair of the APPGA. The findings from the 2017 inquiry into the education system contributed to our decision to extend the autism strategy for the first time to children and young people. Furthermore, the 2019 inquiry into the impact of the Autism Act 10 years on from its enactment has been vital in the development of this new strategy. We will all remember and are deeply grateful for Dame Cheryl’s perseverance, drive and contributions to improving the lives of autistic people and their families across the country. Joint ministerial foreword The Ambitious about Autism Youth Council Members describe what it’s like to be autistic in their own words.By 2026, we want to demonstrate that we have significantly improved public understanding and acceptance of autism, and that autistic people feel more included in their communities and less lonely and/or isolated. We want the public to have a better understanding of autism and to have changed their behaviour towards autistic people and their families.