Rain Man

A few years ago, I was sitting at the local Motor Vehicles office, enjoying the thrill of renewing my license.  There's nothing like sitting with incredible numbers of the unwashed masses to put a spring in your step.  Inevitably, as you sit looking at the number 132 in your hand as a soft, gentle voice says, "You're never going to called....ever", I mean, "Number 17 is currently being served", conversations of muted sarcasm about what a miserable experience we are all enduring ensue.  That day was no exception.  A woman, about 20 years my senior struck up a conversation with me.

She was polite, but nosy.  I tried to be polite in return and chatted about general topics of interest.  At one point, she asked me if I had any children and we talked briefly about them.  I wound up mentioning that my middle child, A., was autistic.  She asked if I had a photo and happened to have one on my cell phone, which I shared.  She said, "But, but he doesn't LOOK autistic!" then added, "you mean Autistic like Rain Man right?"  I resist the urge to chuckle or roll my eyes and look at it as an opportunity to educate someone who truly doesn't understand.

I explain that Dustin Hoffman's character was portraying a savant, who just happened to be Autistic.  While I think Dustin Hoffman was brilliant in his portrayal of also showing the repetition and perseveration of Autism, I think a great disservice was done, unintentionally, to the Autism community as a whole.  When the movie was released, practically no one, including myself, had a clue what Autism was.  After seeing the movie, Autism was a scary condition that would result in a lifetime of living in an institution, never having any semblance of a normal life and a very unusual attachment to a schedule.  While the latter part is pretty accurate, a lot of the dramatic events in the film are very savant-like in nature.

There are many commercials that pop up today regarding Autism.  I for one see several in my viewing area because of our proximity to Kennedy Krieger.  I do not know if they advertise in other markets, but I know they do here.  Also, Autism Speaks is another wonderful organization that advertises a lot as well.  There is even a Nascar race dedicated to them!  What I do think we are missing here is the opportunity to educate.  Telling people how many people out of a hundred will be diagnosed or how much research is being done is nice, but people watching these commercials who are not connected in any way with Autism have no idea what the heck it is.  Information is great, but education is the key.  Sadly, most people will come in contact with someone with Autism in their lifetime.  I say sadly not for the people who have Autism but for those who don't understand.  If you can take just five minutes to visit a site like Autism Speaks and learn just a tiny bit about people with Autism, perhaps there can be greater understanding about what makes these special, awesome people tick.