AUTISM AWARENESS
Written by Nina Greenberg - 9/3/2020
Madeline Griffith was the star of the show in the first of many Mental Health Awareness shoots by All For Us Magazine. Between her stunning looks and personality, I found myself inspired by her and her interview. Maddie opened up to us about her struggles with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), something she was officially diagnosed with in 2019. She talked about how receiving her diagnosis brought a sort of explanation to her and her family. Her mother, Maddie explained, had been researching things like ASD since Maddie was in third grade, when she struggled a lot with standardized testing and the pressures placed upon her. “That pressure, and always getting so anxious…I remember, back in fifth grade, I almost threw up during a test because I didn’t think I knew…what was on the test well enough,” she recalled. “I have [Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)]…something [a lot] of kids with autism deal with…autism affects your entire body, and not just your brain.”
Autism Spectrum Disorder affects 1 in 54 kids within the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control; however, this statistic can be broken down even further. 1 in 34 boys in the United States are identified to have autism, compared to 1 in 144 girls. As stated within its name, autism is a spectrum, categorized within many different subtypes, each dependent on various genetic and environmental factors. There are four distinct autism diagnoses that, in 2013, were merged to fall under ASD by the American Psychiatric Association: autistic disorder, childhood disintegrative disorder, pervasive developmental disorder-not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS) and Asperger syndrome. Some people are able to live their lives independently or with minimal support, whereas others receive the full help that they need. People with autism vary in their ability to learn, think, communicate, problem solve. And, like Maddie mentioned, autism does not affect the brain alone; it is often accompanied by mental health and medical challenges such as anxiety, depression, gastrointestinal, seizures, and/or sleep disorders.
For the most part, signs of autism begin early on in childhood, and early intervention has shown to lead to positive outcomes later on in life. Core symptoms of autism are defined to be social communication challenges and restricted and repetitive behaviors. When a diagnosis is made, these symptoms are recognized through a list of criteria, and specialists additionally check autism symptom severity, which reflects the amount of support an affected person might need. Although uneducated popular belief suggests that children who struggle with autism have an intellectual disability, in reality, only 31% of individuals with autism have an intellectual disability, 25% are borderline, and 44% reach average to above average IQ scores.
The lack of awareness surrounding autism and its effects on individuals can lead to heavy stereotyping and bullying that can easily be avoided. I’ve personally witnessed the term “autistic” thrown around as a common insult, something I believe is unacceptable in this day and age. Ignorance to the true meaning of “autistic” and autism itself has led many to think it is acceptable for them to use, when in reality, it is simply a sign of their obvious disregard of those actually affected by it. Maddie commented on this, adding that as someone with autism, she is always trying to “blend in, to not look different,” trying to avoid unwanted attention.
For her shoot, Maddie captured one of her everyday struggles with autism, a tic disorder called dermatillomania, which she defined as “the constant repetitive picking at your skin.” She covered half of her face in eggshells, arranged to represent the “cracked and scarred parts of her face.” This disorder is often disregarded as self harm, or something normal for teens who may be struggling with acne, but Maddie explained that dermatillomania for her is chronic. “It's really odd, like rambunctious things, you know, that people don't really consider autism when you're young,” Maddie added. “It’s just a kid, doing kid things.”
Maddie opened up about how, growing up with autism, she’s been manipulated, bullied, and mistreated several times. And, as a person with autism, she carries all of those memories with her. She told us about a childhood bully who’d made a comment about her chewing too loudly, something that has stuck in her head ever since. “People with autism really never forget the things that happen to them, so it’s…really hard to move on from the past,” she said.
But, to Maddie, there are some positives that come with autism, like the way that she and others think, telling us that even Albert Einstein is believed to have had autism. “There’s a different way that we think,” she said. Unfortunately, this is not reflected within the minds of others. “[People] see it as almost down syndrome,” she went on. “They see it as something else…I tell people I’m on the spectrum and they’re like: you don’t look autistic.”
This idea that someone needs to fit into yet another category, a category of physical appearance, to be considered autistic is hurtful fallacy. The lack of awareness about ASD and all that it covers under its umbrella is unacceptable and something we must work to fix if we hope to help to normalize autism and all those affected by it. People with autism shouldn’t be afraid to be judged for something out of their control, and they shouldn’t feel pressured to hide who they are just to fit in within a crowd. Nobody should feel alone or isolated from society because they can’t conform to a standard. ASD, among all other mental health disorders, is something that affects so many people around the United States and around the world.
We asked Maddie what she would say to other people with autism. “I would say: there are other people out there who deal with this…just know that there are other people out there like you.”
For more information and resources, check out https://www.autismspeaks.org and https://www.autism-society.org :)
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
I would personally like to thank Maddie, once again, for stepping up and sharing her story. For being brave and opening my eyes to my own ignorance. I’ve learned so much because of Maddie, and I know I will continue to research and advocate for autism awareness. With her interview, with her shoot, with this article, I hope that she will continue to inspire others in the same way she has inspired me.