Saturday, 27 March 2010
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Why you shouldn't rush to conclusions about Autism
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What do you think about commercials like this?
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About the Author
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- From: shesmorethananumber
- About Me: I am a 21 year old Christian with Asperger's Syndrome, Septo Optic Dysplasia, and Bipolar Disorder.
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Comments (6)
I have mixed feelings about that commercial. I do think that they were trying to convey a positive message about autism and that you should encourage every child, but on the other hand it does paint a stereotypical image of how an autistic child behaves, interacts with people in the world etc. I know it is only 1 commercial, but if they were trying to educate the public about autism, it kind of failed to show that it is a spectrum.
@Erika_Steele@xanga - I totally agree.
There's so much that could be shared about the spectrum, it would be great if they could do a series of these... I think the message in this one is good though, the challenge to realize there are different perspectives from which people view the world.
@nettieheidmann@xanga - That's a nice idea. Prejudging is never the way.
We are forced to think outside the box when raising our children with autism and special needs. Here was just another example. The message I received from this commercial was for parents to be creative and see their children from a more positive perspective, especially at dark times.
Several things hit me about this commercial.
1) Makes perfect sense that the kid would want to draw a whale as big as it actually is.
2) The motion of scribbling/coloring like that is SOOOOOOOOOOOO nice. It is adictive.
3) That teacher set the kid up by telling him to draw whatever comes to mind... LOL Gotta be way more specific with some kids... like maybe by telling him that it needs to fit on the paper... LOL
4) Asking the boy "What DID you draw?" was in the wrong tense, there was no answer for that question yet, had he been asked, "What ARE YOU DRAWING?" it may have gotten an answer.
(If I were asked that question in the middle of what I'm drawing, at this point in time, I would be able to phrase a future tense answer and say, "It will be a whale when I'm finished." Or I might keep it in the present tense and answer, "Part of a whale." But with a kid who is taking things THAT literally... there is no answer to "What did you draw?" until the drawing is done. If someone had asked me that question when I was the boy's age, I too might have ignored it as irrelevant or knowing me I'd have remarked, "It's not done yet" and gotten in trouble for being smart.)
5) This is a really good look at hyper focused activity and the inability to transfer thought and action from one tense to another.
6) It was a little unrealistic, because if a kid is going to be that hyper-focused on something, it would have been noticed before that... if you don't take it too literally and realize that it is a somewhat metaphoric example to make a generalization for the sake of a commercial... then it works ok.
7) It pointed out that sometimes there is a REASON behind the hyper-focused activity, even if that reason cannot be fully expressed... or expressed at all.
8) The commercial did not show the results of trying to take away the paper and crayons. Didn't show the car ride to the specialists and the care facility. It didn't show the parents trying to force the kid to do something else. So, it wasn't really a true showing of the reaction to the hyper focused activity of a child on the autistic spectrum.
9) It didn't show anything but a quiet concern for the boy. That is not the typical reaction in the U.S.