Going through life, it’s always hard. People always judge others for what they are wearing, or what they say or whom they are dating but its always things that people can hide or change. Its something that most of us go through in life, most of us have been made fun of, or been bullied. Then we grow up and the laughter stops, but what happens to those who cant hide whom they are? My little sister at 18 months was diagnosed with autism. I am 2 years older then her so when she was diagnosed I did not understand why my mom was crying. Growing up, I did not understand why she was considered a freak. Then I finally learned that she was “different” than everybody else.
Autism is a neurobehavioral disorder that impairs social interactions, communication skills and developmental language. Autism can range from a handicap that limits normal life to devastating disabilities that requires the child to be institutionalized. Most children with autism have trouble communicating with others and understanding how others feel. Many people with autism are cognitively impaired to some degree and remain that way for most of their lives. They show uneven skill development especially when it comes down to communication and relating to other people. But people with autism have unusually developed skills in other areas such as creating music, solving math problems, drawing or memorizing facts. These kids usually test high if not higher then the average student without a disability. Autism usually appears during the first 3 years of life while there are some kids who will show signs from birth. Autism is four times more likely to show up in boys then in girls.
As being an older brother, taking care of your younger siblings comes as a job that is a must do. My little sister has always been looked at as weird and as not normal. In the fall of 2005, my parents decided to move and had us move to a new school. At the new school, we were introduced to our principal. She was very nice, explaining to us that the school is very fun and that fifth grade for me would be a blast. My mom then explained that my sister has to have certain medication at the nurse’s office just in case my sister suffered an anxiety attack. She asked my mom about it and learned that my sister had autism. Her attitude towards my sister completely changed, beginning to say that she’s going to need to be put into a special room away from the other kids and have to go to recess at a different time then the other kids. This infuriated my mother because once again my sister was being treated like a second-class citizen, she was being treated like she was now the schools dirty little secret. My mother started a petition to let my sister in the normal classes because she was a human that wanted to learn and make friends. My mother went around the neighborhood asking people to sign the petition and in 2 days my mom had 500 signatures. She took it to the school and my sister was placed in normal classroom. Though the teacher was told by the principal to give her plastic scissors and to give her a desk that was a distance away from others. As the year continued the teacher noticed that my sister was very social and very capable of working with and around others and noticed that she was able to keep up with the work in the class. She would tell the principal that she was doing amazing and she was breaking all the stereotypes. The principal insisted that she followed the precautions and the rules. One day in a late Thursday afternoon, that teacher came over to our house and spoke to my mom about what she was seeing and about what was going on.
