Last year’s theme was “Transition to Adulthood – by becoming a full and equal participant in the social, economic and political life of the community.” And we would like to stress that even more today, as this year was very demanding on everyone, with uncertainties, a looming pandemic and crisis, there has been a rise in mental distress situation among young people, and worsening of conditions of those who already before lived with mental challenges an discomforts.
As life slowly may be returning to “normality” soon, it is important that life events restart, and as we promised ourselves in these months “let’s get a better humanity out of this traumatic experience” and how can we do that? By thinking about inclusion and diversity, which starts by removing stigmas and unintentional discrimination towards people on the spectrum, a pitying and charitable attitude is of no help at all, on the contrary can stress and mark out the differences (as well as creating more distance) nor the fear of not knowing how to handle the situation when people on the spectrum attend learning and social events.
Just keep in mind that ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) is really broad, and can include social skills challenges, repetitive behaviours, affect speech or nonverbal communication, and very often people on the spectrum and their families tend to avoid social and community events, not to create excitement that triggers the “unusual” behaviour, or caused by extra stress of trying to cope with the social situation, and many rather avoid such occasions not to have to explain or for fear of being misunderstood.
Loud sounds and voices, large unfamiliar crowds, flashing lights can be quite challenging for people of any age who are on the spectrum, who tend to have a preference for predictability and routines, which often is the comfortable and preferred environment. A search engine search will help you to identify plenty of useful advice and tips on how to make your community, social and learning events more inclusive towards autism and everyone else. “Let’s get a better humanity out of this!” we did promise that.
Rescogita is a startup that focuses on education through training, coaching, capacity building and consulting, grounded on the principles of ecopsychology, meaning in identifying practical solutions to affect the wellbeing of the individual, the community and the biosphere in a single approach.