Hello everyone. I would like to get real serious for a moment and share you something that is really important for me while growing up and nowadays.

As some may noticed on my profile, or while talking to me, I do have the Autism Spectrum. What's that? A person with Autism is a person with neurodevelopmental disorders such as speech impediment, issues with social communication or interaction, and repetitive patterns, interests and activities.

An autistic person can be recognized by this specific things that the mentioned person does

- unusually intense or focused interests
- stereotyped and repetitive body movements such as hand flapping and spinning
- repetitive use of objects such as repeatedly switching lights on and off or lining up toys
- insistence on sticking to routines such travelling the same route home each day and doing things in exactly the same order every time
- unusual sensory interests such as sniffing objects or staring intently at moving objects
- sensory sensitivities including avoidance of everyday sounds and textures such as hair dryers, vacuum cleaners and sand
- limited use and understanding of non-verbal communication such as eye gaze, facial expression and gesture
- difficulties forming and sustaining friendships
- lack of seeking to share enjoyment, interests and activities with other people
- difficulties with social and emotional responsiveness
- delayed language development
- difficulties initiating and sustaining conversations
- stereotyped and repetitive use of language such as repeating phrases from televisión

Approximately 1/3 persons with Autism are non verbal at all, while others have real struggles while talking with other people. There are cases where communication was only possible by the assistance of electronic devices. The autistic person has difficulty in Reading other people's emotions or feelings by the facial expressions, body language or any form of communication rather than verbal speech.

1 of 68 kids in the United States only, are diagnosed with Autism. It is more common to find the spectrum in boys rather than in girls. It is believed by studies that Autism might be generated by DNA and the enviroment.

THERE ARE NO SUCH THING AS CURE OR EXAM TO DETERMINE IF A PERSON IS AUTISTIC: But with diagnostic observation, educational and psycological exams, it would be possible to determine if a person has autism. It is the better to do these kind of exams or analysis by the age of 2 or 3. In higher ages is more difficult to do though.

The Asperger síndrome is cathegorized inside the Autism chart, but it lacks the struggle of intellectual development of an autistic person.

Each person with autism is different, as it has SO MANY levels of Autism inside the spectrum. Some have a real severe intelectual dishability and other ones have a superior intelectual hability. Here is a list of habilities a kid with autism would develope https://www.angelsense.com/blog/top.....et-overlooked/

AND NOW A BIT OF BACKSTORY

I was born in 1995, when Autism was barely a thing. I've been diagnosed by the age of 2, but it was when I was born that my parents were told by the doctors that I would not be able to walk or talk during my whole life.

During my preschool and early elementary days, I was attending a special education school (a real close interpretation of hell) and a private clinic who "trained me" in the typical situations of the real world, ceasing my typical autistic behaviours and patterns, and regulize my language skills. Sadly, at that period of my life, I suffered bullying in an intense way. It wasn't until the last year I was there that I developed a real hatred to myself, and it drived me to do things such as hurting myself, throwing shit at myself, over praising people that wasn't me, and even suicide attempts.

By the 3rd grade, when I moved to a Private Catholic School, the same school where my older sister studied, I had the chance to develope myself in a more real scenario, as the autism spectrum had decreased to a light level. But the self hatred thing did not decrease neither got worse, and it was a real struggle for me while growing up. It wasn't until High School that the situation was minimized to a small series of "modesty" disguised as acting nice.

And due to Autism, I excelled at the academic aspect of school, being one of the highest grades of almost every classroom I was in. In 2008, my father passed away, and it did no better for my self hatred situation. As I was trying to deal with the pain and sorrow of loosing my father, I tried finding a proper catarsis for it and my self hatred. I found that moments of peace in Drawing. As a hobby, I've been drawing since 2009, but in 2011 I formally began to drive myself to an art career.

ABOUT THE AUTISM AWARENESS

April 2nd is the international Autism Awareness day. I tried to put my best effort in writing and letting all my demons out in a journal by the sake of the occasion, so the people who follow me or would like to know me would know how it feels like to be autistic or see the things a person with autism has to go by. This information I provided is never enough for a person willing to help people with Autism. It requires years of investigations, endurance, and caring for an autistic child.

As a personal thought, I beg you not to watch or recommend watching Rainman with the intention of Autism Awareness. It gives not a bad interpretation of an autistic person, but personally is not the best choice. A movie I would recall for it would be "My Name is Khan" it reveals a more natural way of living of a person with autism.

If you or a person you know has autism, please let me know at the comments and help me spread the info about autism, for both the help and the awareness

Thank you for Reading, it is really heart warming because I'm sharing something that is really important for me and I'd like to, well, give it the proper importance.

That would be all

-C