Autism is getting more recognised by the day, although admittedly I'd never heard of it until I was 13 years old, when my little brother Matthew, then 11, got diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome. Since the age of about 2, we knew he had some learning difficulties, due to his inability to communicate with us, and his inability to really act sociably in the way most other kids would. We got told he wouldn't amount to anything, and he wouldn't be able to achieve much educationally, and with other aspects.
I remember, while all the other kids would be playing in the playground together, on the slide, swings etc. My brother would just walk around the fence just staring at it out of the corner of his eye. Wouldn't do anything else for the duration of us being there.
I also remember how people used to treat my mum, because of Matt's inability to communicate to us when something was wrong, and his inability to understand really what emotions were going through him, he would just cause a scene, play up, kicking and screaming, and somehow my poor mum had to figure out from that what was wrong.
People who have Asperger's syndrome often create a deep interest in things, my brother it was wrestling, video games (his PS1 when we were young!) and he could tell you everything about it, but it was all he would talk about, if you would ask him a question about the weather, he'd reply with something to do with wrestling. His focus was always on his little fascinations.
He used to have a big fascination with automatic doors, he HAD to be the one to open them, so if my mum ever needed to go into a shop with automatic doors, and that particular shop was busy... Jesus, you can imagine what happened when my mum got tired of waiting for them to close long enough for him to open them... Arms out, legs out, kicking, screaming, crying. My poor mum! People used to look and judge her in the street, saying how much of a bad kid my brother was, and how much of a bad mum my mum was being. When actually, she was nothing but an amazing mum to us both.
Things did get better for my brother though, after not being able to talk much and understand us, and not be able to really socialise and get on with other kids, things soon got better, and he began mainstream school just before he turned 6, and made some amazing friends. A lot grew out of him, as they developed quicker than him, but he just made more and more friends. Now, he's 18, about to do his second year of college, has an A-level in Maths, and is applying for University. He's done so well for himself. But it's not been without the struggles. A lot of people don't recognise Autism in the people that they meet. Especially kids and teenagers, bullying was a big problem, and I can't count the amount of fights I got in, sticking up against people who made fun of him. It's even harder to see him not recognise that they do make fun of him. A lot of the time it's just an assumption that they're joining in with him and what he's doing, and that's really not the case! Kids would come up to me at school, saying what Matt had done, laughing and saying stuff, when I'd go to ask him, he would just say, 'Yeah, we were all doing it.' It always hurt to see him as such an easy target.
Even this weekend I ended up confronting some lads that I went to school with, because they made fun of the way he was dancing in the club, and calling him a 'retard'. But if he's happy doing what he's doing, who am I to tell him he can't dance the way he wants to. The thing is, he doesn't care what people think, It's just hard to me to see people treat him like that, when all he's doing is having a good time with me and our friends on a night out.

Here's a picture of us from that night out, many people believe that the reason why Autism is a lot less recognised as it should be is because you can't see it in their physical appearance as you would with other syndromes etc. From having Matt as my brother, I've learnt a lot of things that I wouldn't have known without him. I would have been a lot less aware of Autism and what it actually is and how it affects people. Which is why I would love for you guys reading this, if you aren't aware yourselves to go research it! Here are some links :D
http://www.autismspeaks.org/
Autism Fact Sheet
http://www.autism.com/
http://www.autismplus.org/ < The wonderful charity shop I volunteer at, that help do some amazing things to support people with Autism!
And for those of you on twitter, there are some amazing profiles on there for you to go and follow such as: @Autismspeaks and @NatAutisticSoc
Some people with Autism achieve some brilliant things, and even people who struggle to achieve through it, I've found they are the happiest people, who bring the most joy into people's lives. I would love to see an end to discrimination and ignorance towards Autism. It isn't always easy to work with Autistic people, it can be really difficult especially in their younger years, but it shouldn't be an issue, and I can't think of a reason why it should be.
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