Some of these missives come from celebrities, book authors and parents of kids with autism. Some you may have heard already, and some you probably haven’t. But they’re all worth reading and remembering on World Autism Day, a day (April 2, 2022) set aside to raise awareness and understanding of autism.
- “I am different, not less.” —Temple Grandin, animal behavior expert and author of The Autistic Brain
- “If I could snap my fingers and be nonautistic, I would not. Autism is part of what I am.” —Temple Grandin Tom Hanks Meets Superfan With Autism: Watch (and Try Not to Tear Up)
- “Autists are the ultimate square pegs, and the problem with pounding a square peg into a round hole is not that the hammering is hard work. It’s that you’re destroying the peg.” ―Paul Collins, author
- “If they can’t learn the way we teach, we teach the way they learn.” ―Dr. O. Ivar Lovaas of the Lovaas Institute
- “Autism is part of my child, it’s not everything he is. My child is so much more than a diagnosis.” ―S.L. Coelho, author
- “There’s a saying within the Asperger community: if you’ve met one person with Asperger’s syndrome, you’ve met one person with Asperger’s syndrome … Within this condition, beneath this label, the variety of personality, of humor, of behavior, is infinite.” —Hugh Dancy, star of the 2009 film about a man with Asperger’s syndrome, Adam
- “I see people with Asperger’s syndrome as a bright thread in the rich tapestry of life.” —Tony Attwood, author of The Complete Guide to Asperger’s Syndrome
- “Even for parents of children that are not on the spectrum, there is no such thing as a normal child.” —Violet Stevens, mom of a son with autism
- “I smile every day watching my own kids grow and blossom, and the more they progress, the stronger an advocate I become for those who don’t have a voice.” —Matt Bentgzen, father of two sons with Asperger’s Your Autism Questions—Answered!
- “If people take the time to get to know kids like [my son] Davis, they’ll see that they have so much to offer the community and the world. They’re not unproductive.” —Lisa Pauley, mom of a son with autism
- “Don’t think that there’s a different, better child ‘hiding’ behind the autism. This is your child. Love the child in front of you. Encourage his strengths, celebrate his quirks, and improve his weaknesses, the way you would with any child.” —Claire Scovell LaZebnik, author of Growing Up on the Spectrum
- “It does not matter what sixty-six percent of people do in any particular situation. All that matters is what you do.” —John Elder Robison, author of Look Me In the Eye
- “I’ve learned 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 autistic.” —Naoki Higashida, author of The Reason I Jump
