Autism World Quotes & Sayings

Being autistic makes me hyper sense things in the world.
Music can intensely enter my soul piercing my inner workings like a light pulsing through me. it can be such an amazing experience — Tina J. Richardson

This world we live in is confusing, overwhelming and painful because he has a condition known as autism. — Tina Traverse

Would I ever have the courage to tell Wills the truth? That he wasn't just imagining the world was a more difficult place for him to understand than for some of his buddies - that it was, in fact, more difficult for him. That he'd been dealt a rotten hand in that regard, but only in that one regard. Because I wouldn't change one freckle, one misunderstood moment, one tiny piece of him for anything in the world. I would change myself. I would change the things other people said or thought out of ignorance or fear. I would change so many things, but I would absolutely never, in a million years, change him. — Monica Holloway

Autism does not have a look. Autism cannot be cured by discipline. Autism is not a disease. Autism is a way of being. Autism is a neurological difference. Autism is a unique way of viewing the world. — Tina J. Richardson

A major cause of the Roman Empire's decline, after six centuries of world dominance was its replacement of stone aqueducts by lead pipes for the transport and supply of drinking water. Roman engineers, the best in the world, turned their fellow citizens into cripples. Today our own "best and brightest," with the best of intentions, achieve the same end through childhood vaccination programmes yielding the modern scourges of hyperactivity, learning disabilities, autism, appetite disorders, and impulsive violence. — Harris L Coulter

Being young is hard. I was so isolated and alienated when I was young. All I wanted was a friend. I want the world to be different for young Auties than it was for me. — Jeanette Purkis

Having Simultanagnosia (object blindness), Prosopagnosia (face blindness) and Semantic Agnosia (meaning blindness) goes in my favour with regards to abstract art living in world full of fragmented pieces when I draw it is in real time no visual memory means no "pre-formatted" picture in my mind so I go where my hand takes it's like journey that is happening in the moment, hence why I drew these without my lenses on. When I was younger I would draw pictures by "route" which made it a appear that I had a visual memory (cobbling together things out of context and making a contextual image) — Paul Isaacs

Why couldn't they do that? Why couldn't they hold on to each other and block out the world? Why couldn't they surrender to what they couldn't control? Why weren't they brave enough to celebrate a life that included autism? She wanted to, and she thinks she eventually got there, but it took her too long. Just as she was ready to dance, the music stopped playing. — Lisa Genova

no one can know how another person 'senses' the world. We just have to respect the person as they are. Accept their unique way of being. Embrace them for who they are not what you think they should be. — Tina J. Richardson

The children I describe here have horizontal conditions that are alien to their parents. They are deaf or dwarfs; they have Down syndrome, autism, schizophrenia, or multiple severe disabilities; they are prodigies; they are people conceived in rape or who commit crimes; they are transgender. The timeworn adage says that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, meaning that a child resembles his or her parents; these children are apples that have fallen elsewhere - some a couple of orchards away, some on the other side of the world. Yet myriad families learn to tolerate, accept, and finally celebrate children who are not what they originally had in mind. — Andrew Solomon

As a child she was unique, she was a dreamer, she lived in her own world. Where it was safe. — Tina J. Richardson

The world needs all types of minds. — Temple Grandin

I know children regress after vaccination because it happened to my own son. Why aren't there any tests out there on the safety of how vaccines are administered in the real world, six at a time? Why have only two of the 36 shots our kids receive been looked at for their relationship to autism? — Jenny McCarthy

If coloured lenses can potentially stop the world seeming fragmented and put an end to nightmare distortions, then the learner with autism who shows signs of visual stress deserves to be screened. — Adele Devine

The most important thing is to bring people with Parkinson's into our world and for the public to have a real understanding of it, as they're beginning to have with autism. — Helen Mirren

Couldn't change the brain I'd been born with, so instead I learned how to narrow the world with makeshift blinders, until all I noticed was what I wanted to notice. That's autism, for those who've never been there themselves. — Jodi Picoult

There are strong similarities in the way horses and those with autism see the world. Horses are often born into an environment they don't understand, with overwhelming sights, sounds, and smells, and a sense that no one understands them. And when they see someone with autism, who has much the same background, and who knows them, and knows what they need - there is a connection. Since the two share the same experiences, they both relax, and seem to talk and understand each other. — Valerie Ormond

In the context of the autism world (and my outlook in general) this is were I stand equality is for everyone, everybody in the world - I look at both sides of the the coin and take into account peoples realities (that makes me neutral/moderate/in the middle).
That means that you look in a more three dimensional perspective of peoples diverse realities you cannot speak for all but one can learn from EACH OTHER through listening and experiencing.
I also try my best to live with the good cards I was given not over-investing in my autism being the defining factor of my being (but having a healthy acknowledgement of it) that it's there but also thinking about other qualities I have such as being a writer, poet and artist.
I do have disability, I do have autism and I have a "mild" learning disability that is true but I a human being first and foremost. And for someone to be seen as person equal to everyone else is a basic human right. — Paul Isaacs

I more the "Autism World" gets imploded with politics the less voices will be heard. — Paul Isaacs

Autism is what makes me, me. You can't 'cure' Autism out of me. It's intertwined into how I perceive the world — Tina J. Richardson

In an ideal world the scientist should find a method to prevent the most severe forms of autism but allow the milder forms to survive. After all, the really social people did not invent the first stone spear. It was probably invented by an Aspie who chipped away at rocks while the other people socialized around the campfire. Without autism traits we might still be living in caves. — Temple Grandin

The World can feel like a strange and confusing place for an autistic person. Lights, sounds and smells are extremely intense and overwhelming sometimes. People also can be confusing and overwhelming to me. It can help me if you are consistent with what you say and do; please say what you mean. Also provide me with a safe, quiet place to recover when I'm really overwhelmed. Please speak quietly and calmly and give me time to de-stress. — Tina J. Richardson

I am an actress of life, the world is my stage. Trained to fit in and yet I still fail. — Tina J. Richardson

Autism. STOP sugar coating it to make it easier to swallow. I don't have a superpower, sparkles or rainbows. I'm me. I need to be accepted for being me. In the world I live in, I have a disability — Tina J. Richardson

I am the father of a 9 year-old son whose descent into the world of autism began at the age of 7 months old after receiving numerous vaccinations in a single day; the same story that is told by thousands of other parents of children throughout the country whose healthy, normally developing children have become autistic after vaccinations. — Rick Rollens

My need to be where it is quiet is a real need. The world is way too intense to cope with every day. — Tina J. Richardson

She felt everything deeply,
soaking up the world like a sponge.
While slowly squeezing out her soul, leaving her drained. — Tina J. Richardson

[...] nobody anywhere seemed to be willing to ponder for a moment the possibility that a human being who refused to participate, who refused to speak or listen, who failed to 'interact with his peer group', might not be all that crazy, and might even have arrived at an understandable response to the world in which we lived. — Craig Harrison

The cliche about autism is that the syndrome impedes the ability to love, and I began this research interested in how much a parent could contrive to love a child who could not return the affection. Autistic children often seem to inhabit a world on which external cues have limited impact; they may seem to be neither comforted by nor engaged with their parents are not motivated to gratify them. — Andrew Solomon

people with autism must survive in an outside world where "special needs" is playground slang for "retarded, — Naoki Higashida

Aware adults with autism and their parents are often angry about autism. They may ask why nature or God created such horrible conditions as autism, manic depression, and schizophrenia. However, if the genes that caused these conditions were eliminated there might be a terrible price to pay. It is possible that persons with bits of these traits are more creative, or possibly even geniuses. If science eliminated these genes, maybe the whole world would be taken over by accountants. — Steve Silberman

So how do people with autism see the world, exactly? We, only we, can ever know the answer to that one! Sometimes I actually pity you for not being able to see the beauty of the world in the same way we do. Really, our vision of the world can be incredible, just incredible ...
When you see an object, it seems that you see it as an entire thing first, and only afterwards do its details follow on ... But for people with autism, the details jump straight out at us first of all, and then only gradually, detail by detail, does the whole image sort of float up into focus.
Every single thing has its own unique beauty. People with autism get to cherish this beauty, as if it's a kind of blessing given to us. — Naoki Higashida

I've met so many parents of the kids who are on the low end of the autism spectrum, kids who are diametrically opposed to Jacob, with his Asperger's. They tell me I'm lucky to have a son who's verbal, who is blisteringly intelligent, who can take apart the broken microwave and have it working again an hour later. They think there is no greater hell than having a son who is locked in his own world, unaware that there's a wider one to explore. But try having a son who is locked in his own world and still wants to make a connection. A son who tries to be like everyone else but truly doesn't know how. — Jodi Picoult

What's wrong with me? I lose my footing, in here.' He touched his head. 'When a neuro-typical looses their footing, they yell or escape to the TV, or maybe the doctor throws them on depression meds. But when I slip, I fall all the way through. I feel the ground give way and I'm gone. It's a crack
a crack in what's real, and beneath there I'm stuck. Then, I guess I become someone else. Mom says I still know my name, but I walk a different world. The shrink calls it DID
Dissociative Identity Disorder
with a little added autism to spice up my other personality. I suppose he's right, but only I know how it feels to slip through the cracks. Then the monster shows up. — Jonathan Friesen

At the age of three, Tito Mukhopadhyay was diagnosed with severe autism, but his mother, Soma, refused to accept the conventional wisdom of the time that her son would be unable to interact with the outside world. She read to him, taught him to write in English, and challenged him to write his own stories. — Temple Grandin

Her mind interprets the world differently. She feels and sees things with a unique perspective. This is what makes her so magnificent. — Tina J. Richardson

Those close to [Patricia Highsmith], particularly her family, often commented on how Highsmith's vision of reality was a warped one. In April 1947, she transcribed into her notebook what was, presumably, a real dialogue between herself and her mother, in which Mary accused her of not facing the world. Highsmith replied that she did indeed view the world 'sideways, but since the world faces reality sideways, sideways is the only way the world can be looked at in true perspective.' The problem, Highsmith said, was that her psychic optics were different to those around her, but if that was the case, her mother replied, then she should equip herself with a pair of new spectacles. Highsmith was not convinced. 'Then I need a new birth,' she concluded. — Andrew Wilson

There should be no single representation in the autism world. Think about this if someone got up on stage and talked about having "non-autistic syndrome" and made the assumption every one with this syndrome is the same we would be in big trouble. That applies to autism as well - it isn't one condition, there are profile differences between Autism and AS and all autism "fruits salads" are different. That is how diverse autism is. — Paul Isaacs

Working with children with autism has provided me with an opportunity to see the world in a different way. I see them strive to overcome obstacles and persevere, and learn to persevere myself. They are my inspiration. — Clay Aiken

I wonder if the World would feel differently about me if they could see how life feels viewing it like I do, through my eyes. — Tina J. Richardson

The aloof nature of autism leads to many misconceptions about the mind of individuals on the spectrum. Labeled as "being in a world of their own" is one of the absolute worst. Difficulty with communication and social interaction does not mean one is alien. Lack of eye contact does not mean they can't see. Wandering does not mean they are lost. — Liz Becker

I don't think I have ever been as inspired by any character that I have played. I was deeply moved by Temple's courage and her resourcefulness.. She is really pioneering in both the world of autism and animal rights. She has encouraged an incredibly positive change in the world. — Claire Danes

Autistic people view the world in a different light, in ways many could never imagine. — Tina J. Richardson

I like being me, I don't mind that I have a diagnosis. I am who I was born to be. I love that I can be enthralled with things and want to learn all about something that interests me. Some days can be hard. People can be confusing for me to understand. I love time to indulge in my interests. It helps me to cope with a world that constantly changes — Tina J. Richardson

I myself am opaque, for some reason. Their eyes cannot see me. Yes, that's it: The world is autistic with respect to me. — Anne Nesbet

When we look at nature, we receive a sort of permission to be alive in this world, and our entire bodies get recharged. However often we're ignored and pushed away by other people, nature will always give us a good big hug, here inside our hearts. — Naoki Higashida

In a world now so obsessed with speed, we teachers must step back and learn to wait. — Adele Devine

I didn't cry out and I didn't weep when I was told that my son Henri was a prisoner in his own world, when it was confirmed that he is one of those children who don't hear us, don't speak to us, even though they're neither deaf nor mute. He is also one of those children we must love from a distance, neither touching, nor kissing, not smiling at them because every one of their senses would be assaulted by the odour of our skin, by the intensity of our voices, the texture of our hair, the throbbing of our hearts. Probably he'll never call me maman lovingly, even if he can pronounce the world poire with all the roundness and sensuality of the oi sound. He will never understand why I cried when he smiled for the first time. He won't know that, thanks to him, every spark of joy has become a blessing and that I will keep waging war against autism, even if I know already that it's invincible. Already, I am defeated, stripped bare, beaten down. — Kim Thuy

A person with autism lives in his own world, while a person with Asperger's lives in our world, in a way of his own choosing — Nicholas Sparks

Ought one to surrender to authority even if one believed that that authority was wrong? If the answer was yes, then I knew that I would always be wrong, because I could never do it. Then how could one live in a world in which one's mind and perceptions meant nothing and authority and tradition meant everything? There were no answers. — Richard Wright

I think that people with autism are born outside the regime of civilization. Sure, this is just my own made-up theory, but I think that, as a result of all the killings in the world and the selfish planet-wrecking that humanity has committed, a deep sense of crisis exists. Autism has somehow arisen out of this. Although people with autism look like other people physically, we are in fact very different in many ways. We are more like travelers from the distant, distant past. And if, by our being here, we could help the people of the world remember what truly matters for the Earth, that would give us a quiet pleasure. — Naoki Higashida

I want you to understand I'm not lost in my own world, I'm just hiding from yours — Tina J. Richardson

You are the CEO of your own life. It;s you making the decisions — Jeanette Purkis

This is a world of action, and not moping and droning in. — Charles Dickens

[I]t seems to me that a lot of the stranger ideas people have about medicine derive from an emotional struggle with the very notion of a pharmaceutical industry. Whatever our political leanings, we all feel nervous about profit taking any role in the caring professions, but that feeling has nowhere to go. Big pharma is evil; I would agree with that premise. But because people don't understand exactly how big pharma is evil, their anger gets diverted away from valid criticisms - its role in distorting data, for example, or withholding lifesaving AIDS drugs from the developing world - and channeled into infantile fantasies. "Big pharma is evil," goes the line of reasoning; "therefore homeopathy works and the MMR vaccine causes autism." This is probably not helpful. — Ben Goldacre

The more the "Autism World" is invested in politics it will continue to implode and more voices will be lost as a result — Paul Isaacs

Matt is the light of my life. When he's away the world seems a bit darker, as if the color of life has drained away. — Liz Becker

The important thing is to bring people with Parkinson's into our world and for the public to have a real understanding of it, as they've beginning to have with autism. — Helen Mirren

there was a time I was dark, sad and a recluse
I did not understand why I felt like I did.Then my life changed.
I was diagnosed and suddenly my world made sense. — Tina J. Richardson

You have to be the bravest person in the world to go out every day, being yourself when no one likes who you are. — Matthew Dicks

For me the number one reason is that us people with autism love the greenness of nature.
... Our fondness for nature is, I think, a little bit different to everyone else's. I'm guessing that what touches you in nature is the beauty of the trees and the flowers and things. But to us people with special needs, nature is as important as our own lives. The reason is that when we look at nature, we receive a sort of permission to be alive in this world, and our entire bodies get recharged. However often, we're ignored and pushed away by other people, nature will always give us a good big hug, here inside our hearts.
The greenness of nature is the lives of plants and trees. Green is life. And that's the reason we love to go for walks. — Naoki Higashida