What is autism: The Most Famous Myths and the Truth Behind

April 2nd is known as “World Awareness Day on autism”, and today more than ever, the whole society must turn its eyes and attention to people with special needs and, above all, understand how close they are.

For starters: What is autism?

Autism is known as a neurobiological disorder characterized by difficulties in communication, social interaction, repeated behavior, and limited range of interests. Symptoms of autism begin to appear before the age of three, and the rate of damage in these three areas differs from individual to individual.

1.

Myth: People with autism do not want to make friends.

Truth: If a person has autism, he probably has difficulty in social situations, so he rarely interacts with others around him. They may seem shy or unfriendly, but this is simply because they do not know how to communicate desires and thoughts in the same way that others do.

2.

Myth: People with autism feel no emotion.

Truth: Autism does not make people unable to feel emotions, it just makes communication and the perception of these emotions difficult.

3.

Myth: People with autism understand the emotions of others.

Truth: Autism affects one's ability to understand nonverbal communication. Someone with autism may not understand the sadness of someone based on body language or sarcasm in his tone of voice, but if such feelings are communicated more directly, people with autism are the first to express compassion and empathy.

4.

Myth: People with autism are mentally disabled.

Truth: Most of the time, autism masks extraordinary skills as challenges. Many people with autism have high levels of intelligence and excel in mathematics, music, or other disciplines.

5.

Myth: People who display typical autism traits are just strange and overtaken.

Truth: Autism stems from biological conditions that affect brain development, and for many individuals, it is an eternal state.

6.

Myth: Autism affects only children.

Truth: Children with autism grow up in autism.

7.

Myth: Autism is just a brain disorder.

Truth: Studies have pointed out that people who have autism have, in some cases, epilepsis, gastro-instintial disorders, food sensitivity, and allergies.

8.

Myth: Autism is caused by disabled parents.

Truth: In the years, a theory was popularized suggesting that cold mothers raised autism babies. This theory has been rejected dozens of times.

9.

Myth: The privacy of autism has been studied and has been on the rise over the past 40 years.

Truth: The autism gap has increased by 600% over the past 20 years. In 1975 a person in 1500 had autism. In 2014, one in 59 has been diagnosed with acute spectrum disorder.