April is Autism Awareness Month, so I'd like to share what I've learned hrough working with people with autism. I've worked with individuals with autism and other disabilities throughout my life, at camps, at schools, at homes.I feel lucky to have had these experiences, because it's helped me learn a lot. I've become more compassionate, more creative, more understanding.

So what is autism? To be diagnosed as autistic, an individual must display:

• Impairment in social interactions
  examples: Impairment in nonverbal social behaviors such as eye-to-eye gaze; failure to develop developmentally appropriate peer relationships; lack of spontaneous seeking to share enjoyment/interests/achievements with other people; lack of social or emotional reciprocity.
  
  
• Impairments in communication
  examples: delay or lack of development in spoken language; impairment in ability to initiate or sustain conversation with others; stereotyped or repetitive use of language;  lack of make believe play.
  
  
• Restricted, repetitive and stereotyped behavior/interests/activities
  examples: restricted interest that is abnormal in intensity/focus; inflexible adherence to specific, nonfunctional routines/rituals; stereotyped and repetitive motor mannerisms such as flapping.
  
  
• Delays/abnormal functioning in social interaction, social language/communication, and symbolic/imaginative play prior to three years of age. [list adapted from the DSM-IV]
  

It's important to realize that any person with a disability is a person first. And they should be treated like people. Yes, people with autism are different. But they are still people. Not every person with autism will look the same, think the same, feel the same, learn the same, or do the same things. Nor do people without autism. By learning more about people who are "different" from myself, I've learned that we are more alike than we are different.

For more information about Autism, good resources are the Autism Society, and Autism Speaks.