Autism Quotes

[I]t seems to me that a lot of the stranger ideas people have about medicine derive from an emotional struggle with the very notion of a pharmaceutical industry. Whatever our political leanings, we all feel nervous about profit taking any role in the caring professions, but that feeling has nowhere to go. Big pharma is evil; I would agree with that premise. But because people don't understand exactly how big pharma is evil, their anger gets diverted away from valid criticisms - its role in distorting data, for example, or withholding lifesaving AIDS drugs from the developing world - and channeled into infantile fantasies. "Big pharma is evil," goes the line of reasoning; "therefore homeopathy works and the MMR vaccine causes autism." This is probably not helpful. ~ Ben Goldacre

I don't have to look at your eyes to listen that's what
my ears are for. ~ Tina J. Richardson

The risks are far greater to your child of not getting immunized than any kind of speculative potential relationship between the vaccine and the development of autism. ~ Irwin Redlener

Autism is a neurological disorder. It's not caused by bad parenting. It's caused by, you know, abnormal development in the brain. The emotional circuits in the brain are abnormal. And there also are differences in the white matter, which is the brain's computer cables that hook up the different brain departments. ~ Temple Grandin

And with a relentlessness that comes from the world's depths, with a persistence that strikes the keys metaphysically, the scales of a piano student keep playing over and over, up and down the physical backbone of my memory. It's the old streets with other people, the same streets that today are different; it's dead people speaking to me through the transparency of their absence; it's remorse for what I did or didn't do; it's the rippling of streams in the night, noises from below in the quiet building.

I feel like screaming inside my head. I want to stop, to break, to smash this impossible phonograph record that keeps playing inside me, where it doesn't belong, an intangible torturer. I want my soul, a vehicle taken over by others, to let me off and go on without me. I'm going crazy from having to hear. And in the end it is I – in my odiously impressionable brain, in my thin skin, in my hypersensitive nerves – who am the keys played in scales, O horrible and personal piano of our memory. ~ Fernando Pessoa

I wished to God the doctor had handed me a pamphlet that said, 'Hey, sorry about the autism, but here's a step-by-step list on what to do next.' But doctors don't do that. They say 'sorry' and move you along. ~ Jenny McCarthy

Can you tell me how a meltdown feels?"

She tilted her head to stare at the ceiling. "Itchy. And bad. You get so mad at yourself, because you know the thing that set you off isn't worth the reaction you're having, but you can't control it. It's like . . . knocking over a cup of tea. It goes everywhere, staining as it spreads, but you can't take it back. You just have to get over yourself and mop up the mess. ~ Julia Day

Get up, stand up and look up into your future as an independent human being. Every one has the right to an independent life, especially us Aspies. ~ Jeanette Purkis

Let's get into talking about how autism is similar animal behavior. The thing is I don't think in a language, and animals don't think in a language. It's sensory based thinking, thinking in pictures, thinking in smells, thinking in touches. It's putting these sensory based memories into categories. ~ Temple Grandin

If you compare the number of children who are diagnosed as autistic64 to the frequency with which the term autism has been used in American newspapers,65 you'll find that there is an almost perfect one-to-one correspondence (figure 7-4), with both having increased markedly in recent years. ~ Nate Silver

Through the blur, I wondered if I was alone or if other parents felt the same way I did - that everything involving our children was painful in some way. The emotions, whether they were joy, sorrow, love or pride, were so deep and sharp that in the end they left you raw, exposed and yes, in pain. The human heart was not designed to beat outside the human body and yet, each child represented just that - a parent's heart bared, beating forever outside its chest. ~ Debra Ginsberg

I look at the sky and the dust that separates us from the stars that will be my home. I breathe in the night air, the rotten night air, and I miss,
I miss,
I miss. ~ Corinne Duyvis

The best reaction to our mistakes will vary from person to person, and according to his or her age, but please remember: for people with autism, the pain of being unable to do what we'd like to is already hard to live with. Pain arising from other people's reactions to our mistakes can break our hearts. ~ Naoki Higashida

I want you to understand I'm not lost in my own world, I'm just hiding from yours ~ Tina J. Richardson

Hope is the greatest thing for moms of autism. Hope is what gets us out of bed in the morning. I'm on a mission to tell parents that there is a way. ~ Jenny McCarthy

Let me see if I can put this in scientific terms: Think of autism like a fart, and vaccines are the finger you pull to make it happen. ~ Jenny McCarthy

If you are accepting of the belief that life can be good even with autism, then they will think so, too. You are the most important person in your child's life, and you can make them believe that anything is possible. ~ Chantal Sicile-Kira

One big question that's come up is: Has autism increased on the mild side of things? I don't think so - they've always been here. Some of this is increased detection. ~ Temple Grandin

Wit seduces by signaling intelligence without nerdiness. ~ Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Autism currently affects one in 88 children in the U.S., and its prevalence continues to rise. That's why it's important to help organizations like Autism Speaks raise awareness and funds to support families and individuals impacted by it. ~ Adrienne Bailon

He drew some relief from knowing that she was happy doing whatever the hell it was she did. Sometimes it seemed to him she was the only happy person he knew, and that frightened him so badly it made him want to curl up and die. ~ Arlene Hunt

Social (Pragmatic) Communication Disorder DSM-5 describes a new disorder that has elements of ASD but is actually conceptualized as outside the autism spectrum. The intention is to provide diagnostic coverage for children with symptoms in the social-communication domain but who have never displayed repetitive, restricted behaviours or interests. However, it is unclear how Social Communication Disorder (SCD) will be different from ASD, which support or therapy services will be available, and what the child will qualify for. ~ Tony Attwood

Autistic reality is of much value as non-Autistic reality ~ Jeanette Purkis

Not Speaking has no reflection on what is being thought on the inside, being a non-verbal person with Autism in my early years I've come to value words, they shouldn't be wasted nor abused they should be cherished used positively and productively. ~ Paul Isaacs

Social media helps me a lot. It also causes a lot of shutdowns ~ Tina J. Richardson

One of the most promising developments since the publication of "The Geek Syndrome" has been the emergence of the concept of neurodiversity: the notion that conditions like autism, dyslexia, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) should be regarded as naturally occurring cognitive variations with distinctive strengths that have contributed to the evolution of technology and culture rather than mere checklists of deficits and dysfunctions. ~ Steve Silberman

While bullying happens to both males and females on the spectrum, girls, particularly, can be judgmental. Dr. Grandin advocates that some gifted children with autism should be allowed to skip high school and go right to college and I couldn't agree with her more. We flourish much better in an environment where the emphasis is on academic achievement and not socializing. Of course we need to learn to socialize, but through shared interests with like-minded individuals, not by being thrown to the lions. Emotionally, we require an atmosphere of tolerance and non-judgment. ~ Rudy Simone

I am the father of a 9 year-old son whose descent into the world of autism began at the age of 7 months old after receiving numerous vaccinations in a single day; the same story that is told by thousands of other parents of children throughout the country whose healthy, normally developing children have become autistic after vaccinations. ~ Rick Rollens

I've said many times that statistics reveal a surprising city: one that has more movie theaters than Paris, more abortions than London, more universities than New York. Where nighttime has become sparse, desolate, the kingdom of only a few. Where violence rules, corners us, silences us into a kind of autism. ~ Paco Ignacio Taibo II

They claim that autism naturally occurs at about 18 months, when the MMR is routinely given, so the association is merely coincidental and not causal. But the onset of autism at 18 months is a recent development. Autism starting at 18 months rose very sharply in the mid-1980s, when the MMR vaccine came into wide use. A coincidence? Hardly! ~ Bernard Rimland

People with autism don't need wheelchairs, artifical legs, or a guide dog. Their prosthesis is people,' says Ruth Christ Sullivan, Ph.D., a founder of the Autism Society of America (ASA), and I could agree with her more. Having good direct support staff in your loved one's life is what makes the difference between a good life and a dismal one. ~ Chantal Sicile-Kira

My arms sometimes move on their own in big flapping motions, as if I might take off, and my hands spin like a hummingbird's wings. ~ Ned Hayes

In real life I feel like I don't fit in anywhere and I'm too nervous to talk to people. On the internet I feel like I fit in, I have found others like me. ~ TinaJ. Richardson

Music can enter my soul like none other. It can reach me and awaken my being ~ Tina J. Richardson

When our son's autism was diagnosed at the age of 2, there was no clear prognosis. We didn't even know if he'd ever learn to talk. But we found talented people to work with him and he improved, slowly at first and then more rapidly. ~ Claire Scovell LaZebnik

For us, time is as difficult to grasp as picturing a country we've never been to. You can't capture the passing of time on a piece of paper. The hands of a clock may show that some time has passed, but the fact that we can't actually feel it makes us nervous. ~ Naoki Higashida

Autistic adults were once autistic kids. We grow up and need acceptance and understanding as well. ~ Tina J. Richardson

Everybody else possessed the key to popularity and happiness, and his clumsy attempts to find his own key always ended with other children looking at him funny, or calling him names. ~ Belinda Bauer

I avoid the sparks in peoples eyes - it feels like it eats into my soul ~ Tina J. Richardson

As a child she was unique, she was a dreamer, she lived in her own world. Where it was safe. ~ Tina J. Richardson

The closer we come to understanding the challenges of autism, the better we are placed to accommodate and educate without risking removing that individuality we all love. ~ Adele Devine

The truth is, there is no link between vaccines and autism. Vaccines are incredibly important. ~ Timothy Simons

William Stillman's Autism and the God Connection is a sensitive and illuminating work which could dramatically change how we view autism. ~ Carol Bowman

I strongly recommend that students with autism get involved in special interest clubs in some of the areas they naturally excel at. Being with people who share your interests makes socializing easier. ~ Temple Grandin

Autism is not a snapshot. It's a life. ~ Gerald Fischbach

I see people with Asperger's syndrome as a bright thread in the rich tapestry of life. ~ Tony Attwood

...and even now I still can't "do" a real conversation. I have no problem reading books aloud and singing, but as soon as I try to speak with someone, my words just vanish. ~ Naoki Higashida

Do not fear people with Autism, embrace them, Do not spite people with Autism unite them, Do not deny people with Autism accept them for then their abilities will shine ~ Paul Isaacs

I did want to acknowledge and confirm the fact that my son does, indeed, have an autism diagnosis. ~ Jenny McCarthy

I wish people could read my thoughts instead of having to put them into words. ~ Tina J. Richardson

... each day provided some tiny step forward, some steps so small you would miss them if you weren't looking. I'm always looking- eager to witness that next miracle. ~ Liz Becker

What it boils down to is that parenting a child with autism is a difficult job; writing about it is far easier. ~ Elizabeth Moon

One out of six women are toxic with mercury. Mercury comes out of coal plants and chlorine plants. I am toxic, I deal with symptoms, children are born with, you know, autism - there is an epidemic in this country. This is like, the air that we breath. ~ Daphne Zuniga

When something is "all in your mind," people tend to think that it's willful, that it's something you could control if only you tried harder or if you had been trained differently. I'm hoping that the newfound certainty that autism is in your brain and in your genes will affect public attitudes. ~ Temple Grandin

Autistic traits, taken together, represent everything that allistics devalue in an audience or social exchange. ~ Melanie Yergeau

Sometimes I don't have enough energy to be social. I need time alone to recover from the last time I went out. ~ Tina J. Richardson

My life - autism's an important part of it, but it bothers me when I see kids where autism and their autism is the only thing they think about. I'd rather have them think about, you know, some art work they were gonna do or some science they wanted to do. ~ Temple Grandin

There's a famous expression that if you've met one person with autism, then... you've met one person with autism.
So you met me.
Just me.
Not a diagnosis.

I realize I hurt you. I forgot to think about you first. I did not put myself in your shoes, as the expression goes. (Though as a sidebar, I think wearing other people's shoes is kind of disgusting; I'm only okay with the concept metaphorically.)

So you know, you are all I think about. ~ Julie Buxbaum

I didn't cry out and I didn't weep when I was told that my son Henri was a prisoner in his own world, when it was confirmed that he is one of those children who don't hear us, don't speak to us, even though they're neither deaf nor mute. He is also one of those children we must love from a distance, neither touching, nor kissing, not smiling at them because every one of their senses would be assaulted by the odour of our skin, by the intensity of our voices, the texture of our hair, the throbbing of our hearts. Probably he'll never call me maman lovingly, even if he can pronounce the world poire with all the roundness and sensuality of the oi sound. He will never understand why I cried when he smiled for the first time. He won't know that, thanks to him, every spark of joy has become a blessing and that I will keep waging war against autism, even if I know already that it's invincible. Already, I am defeated, stripped bare, beaten down. ~ Kim Thuy

GAPS Diet This diet is intended to heal gut damage in children, which may result in autism, ADHD, severe food allergies, or other outward symptoms. Children who have severe physical and behavioral problems may begin this diet in order to address the underlying causes, which is a so-called "leaky gut." This means that the good gut flora that should be present isn't, and that there are "holes" in the gut wall where undigested proteins are leaking through and into the bloodstream, sensitizing the child. There is also an overgrowth of pathogenic bacteria and likely, candida. The GAPS diet[2] addresses this and helps to actually heal the gut. ~ Anonymous

The problems are not the person. ~ Chris Bonnello

Half the time he seems autistic, the rest of the time he's like a lizard jacked full of lithium and speed. These things do not promote love in most of us. ~ Warren Ellis

I think we use a lot of words and labels when trying to describe people: ones with autism, ones without autism. In general, I think that labeling people is a major issue, and people don't understand the power of language. ~ Nikki Reed

In the first sixteen years of my life, my parents took me to at least a dozen so called professionals. Not one of them ever came close to figuring out wheat was wrong with me. In their defense, I will concede that Asperger's did not yet exist as a diagnosis, but autism did, and no one ever mentioned I might have any kind of autistic spectrum disorder. Autism was viewed by many as a much more extreme condition - one where kids never talked and could not take care of themselves. Rather than take a close sympathetic look at me, it proved easier and less controversial for the professionals to say I was just lazy, or angry, or defiant. But none of those words led to a solution to my problem. ~ John Elder Robison

If I could snap my fingers and be nonautistic, I would not. Autism is part of what I am. ~ Temple Grandin

While autism's embodied pathology is understood to be certain, its etiological origins remain unknown. Because of this unknown origin, all bodies are understood as potentially disordered. The mother, who was not so long ago under surveillance and scrutiny, must now adopt the paternalistic position of surveiller - she must watch her children and look for bodily manifestations or signs of disorder and seek biomedical intervention. This, of course, does not free the mother completely from being herself an object of scrutiny. ~ Anne McGuire

The light filtered through the trees, rays of sunlight splitting around the vast trunks, the branches above us fluttering in a faint wind, and the green needles of Douglas Firs shimmering silver underneath in the breeze. ~ Ned Hayes

They've learned to survive even though the world is confusing and difficult for them. ~ Darren Groth

It seems that for success in science or art, a dash of autism is essential. ~ Hans Asperger

I never know what people are thinking. It's like visiting a country where you don't speak the language and you're trying so hard to understand but no matter how many times you ask for juice, they keep bringing you milk. ~ Tracey Garvis Graves

I've met so many parents of the kids who are on the low end of the autism spectrum, kids who are diametrically opposed to Jacob, with his Asperger's. They tell me I'm lucky to have a son who's verbal, who is blisteringly intelligent, who can take apart the broken microwave and have it working again an hour later. They think there is no greater hell than having a son who is locked in his own world, unaware that there's a wider one to explore. But try having a son who is locked in his own world and still wants to make a connection. A son who tries to be like everyone else but truly doesn't know how. ~ Jodi Picoult

To give the short version, I've learnt that every human being, with or without disabilities, needs to strive to do their best, and by striving for happiness you will arrive at happiness. For us, you see, having autism is normal
so we can't know for sure what your 'normal' is even like. But so long as we can learn to love ourselves, I'm not sure how much it matters whether we're normal or austitic. ~ Naoki Higashida

I had never had any experience of autism before and I would come home and look at my son, Billy, who is now two, and be absolutely paranoid, particularly because he loves Thomas the Tank Engine, and lots of autys love Thomas. But he is not very good at pointing, and autistic children absolutely love pointing. ~ Helena Bonham Carter

When we look at nature, we receive a sort of permission to be alive in this world, and our entire bodies get recharged. However often we're ignored and pushed away by other people, nature will always give us a good big hug, here inside our hearts. ~ Naoki Higashida

My brother was diagnosed with autism at age 2. At the time, I was young, so I didn't really understand what it all meant. The doctors thought there was a possibility my brother wouldn't be able to speak - he was diagnosed on the severe end of the spectrum. ~ Jacquelyn Jablonski

Always be true to yourself and live your best life. ~ John R. Miller

This got us thinking, since autistic individuals have been shown to have abnormal amygdalae, perhaps there is also aluminum on the amygdala in children with autism. ~ James Morcan

You take somebody - one person has definitely got autism, you got another person that maybe has some of those traits and maybe there's some anxiety, depression, some epilepsy or something in the family history. Put them together, you're more likely to have a severely autistic kid than if you don't have any neurological problems in the family history. ~ Temple Grandin

I have, throughout my private war, been a she, a you,a Donna, a me, and finally, an I ... If you sense distance,you're not mistaken; it's real. Welcome to my world. ~ Donna Williams

Autism is Treatable ~ Angela Williamson

no one can know how another person 'senses' the world. We just have to respect the person as they are. Accept their unique way of being. Embrace them for who they are not what you think they should be. ~ Tina J. Richardson

Neurotypical people seem to think and feel that it's okay to be rigid as long as their ideas are shared by enough people. ~ Temple Grandin

Being young is hard. I was so isolated and alienated when I was young. All I wanted was a friend. I want the world to be different for young Auties than it was for me. ~ Jeanette Purkis

As soon as [Patricia Highsmith] had stopped work, she felt purposeless and quite at a loss about what to do with herself. 'There is no real life except in working,' she wrote in her notebook, 'that is to say in the imagination.' It was in this state that she observed that only one situation would drive her to commit murder - being part of a family unit. Most likely, she thought, she would strike out in anger at a small child, felling them in one blow. But children over the age of eight, she surmised, would probably take two blows to kill. The reality of socialising with anyone, no matter how close, she said, left her feeling fatigued. ~ Andrew Wilson

I think a brain can be made "more thinking" or made "more emotional." At what point does this become abnormal? Autism in its milder variants, I think, is part of normal human variation. ~ Temple Grandin

As a mom, you worry about protecting your kid. But there are extra added layers of fears when you're talking about a kid with autism or who has some special needs issue. ~ Holly Robinson Peete

I'll always be there for you.
I promise to protect and nurture you.
Hopefully one day soon, true Autism acceptance will be
something that just is. ~ Tina J. Richardson

Remember a person with Autism isn't a set of symptoms or statistics always remember and remind them that they're a person first. ~ Paul Isaacs

Behind the disability, we have a heart and a mind. ~ Matthew Kenslow

Thinking differently means you can work out problems in an unusual way. Just because we may do things differently it does not mean it is wrong. ~ Tina J. Richardson

Autism is not a choice. Acceptance is. Imagine if the opposite was true. ~ Stuart Duncan

I hate the rules of language; I love the orders of numbers. ~ Joey Lawsin

I'll never get to hear her say, 'I love you, Mommy,' like other parents take for granted. ~ Kelly Moran

My 'pieces' all fit and they are not missing. I'm not a puzzle to be solved. I'm not a mystery. I'm a WHOLE human. ~ Tina J. Richardson

I think that people with autism are born outside the regime of civilization. Sure, this is just my own made-up theory, but I think that, as a result of all the killings in the world and the selfish planet-wrecking that humanity has committed, a deep sense of crisis exists. Autism has somehow arisen out of this. Although people with autism look like other people physically, we are in fact very different in many ways. We are more like travelers from the distant, distant past. And if, by our being here, we could help the people of the world remember what truly matters for the Earth, that would give us a quiet pleasure. ~ Naoki Higashida

The future of my child is unknown but I have loved him, supported him, and taught him right from wrong. I will continue to do so ... ~ Brenda Lochinger

Autism is the filter through which all my other senses must pass, both input and output. ~ Stuart Duncan

Joy is always a function of gratitude - and gratitude is always a function of perspective. ~ Ann Voskamp

Neuroanatomy isn't destiny. Neither is genetics. They don't define who you will be. But they do define who you might be. They define who you can be. ~ Temple Grandin

These diagnostic profiles like depression, ADHD, autism, dyslexia, it's half science and the other half is a committee of doctors bickering over what it should be, and it has changed. It's not precise like a diagnosis of tuberculosis would be very precise. ~ Temple Grandin