Today in Australia is the 1st of November there is a Global Funrasier called Communication Shutdown to raise awareness and money for different forms of Autism. There is a fair amount of debate going on about if this campaign is a good thing or not.
Having no one in the family that has a form or Autism and only having meet a friend (via Twitter) whose son suffers with one of the forms of Autism I'm all for the Shutdown (at the moment) the reason why I have no idea what anyone with Autism really goes through.
I know they find it hard to communicate and that's why some people with Autism effecting their familes say that this Communcation Shutdown is wrong that Autism people need that line of communcation.
Knowing Autism people find it hard to communicate would give me a small sense of what it must be like not to be able to communicate by having this shutdown. The reason I'm not doing it this year is I want to gather all the facts so that I can make my mind up next year if this campaign is done again.
Yes I know I'm not the perfect person to write this blog but I would love to hear the Postive and Negative about why you thing this shut down is good or not.
Short or Long posts are welcome on this subject all I ask is you keep in mind that every one has their own thoughts and feelings so no name calling or fighting or your post will not be published. A healthy clean debate is welcome but a fighting one is not.
The webiste for the Communcation Shutdown is here I'm not sure how long the website will be up for it may only be up till Australia's 3rd of November (since other countries are not on the 1st November yet) or it could be up longer.
well, my thoughts are this:
ReplyDeleteWithout the internet I wouldn't know much about autism at all, except the little bits I've seen on TV docos.
However, this shutdown thing has created debate which has created a new wave of awareness. whether people shut down or not, the debate will remain and the debate is good. Talking about it is good.
I'm not shutting down. I'm aware of autism and if I had shut down today I wouldn't have seen this link on twitter or the one leading me to a site where I can donate funds to autism. http://bit.ly/cKo0wO
Good on you for opening up this discussion. I've been off Twitter and FB today, more out of respect for others who are shutting down. But I tend to agree with those who come down on the side of using the internet to bring awareness by talking about autism.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I'm all for raising awareness and this is what the campaign has done, getting people talking about it. But I can't in my own heart, support the shut down campaign. These people - at least the ones I know and I am Mum of a son with Aspergers, PDD and ADD - are already shut out of so many things because of their ASD. Eg, forming 'normal' friendships with kids their own age, forming intimate relationships when they are older, being shunned because they are different, or worse bullied. A computer is indispensible to my son, because he cannot handwrite properly. He cannot get spellings or maths right if he has to write down the answer, but if he can do it on a computer program, he gets high grades and can write stories. I've found the internet a wonderful source of information and opinions from other parents (and kids) which has helped me to parent my child.
ReplyDeleteQuite a few twitter friends and I have been trying to raise awareness today by sharing information and swapping stories.
I had no idea the shutdown was happening, so I didn't, but I'm pleased that an awareness of autism and related conditions is happening. More people need to know more about it.
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