Does autism make you magnificent?

I train people to understand autism and I often hear about the extremely gifted people with autism. There are some incredible people with autism who have tapped into that brilliant part of their mind and excel in one or some areas. There is a beautiful story of an autistic man who took a 20 minute helicopter ride over New York then drew (in pen) the entire city scape perfectly. Wow!!!

I'm not convinced that we need to put pressure on our autistic friends to be extremely gifted and to expect them to live up to that pressure. But what I do know is that autism does not need to be a deficit or be seen as a deficit. It really is just different. What does bother me is when people impose expectations on autistic people to 'fit in'. I wish people would realise how hard it is for a person with autism to 'fit in'.

Imagine a world where we accept that a man's brain and a woman's brain are completely different and in addition to those two we have a third brain - the autistic brain. Wow!! Imagine what we could all learn from each other?

Magnificent Kid, Dani Bowman not only started and runs an animation company employing people with autism, but she is also an artist. Her detail is impeccable. Magnificent Kid, Avalon Theisen also has autism and she too is an artist.

Look at these pics, admire them, and never let anybody tell you that autism is less. As Temple Grandin says... different not less.

So does autism make you magnificent? No, because EVERYBODY is magnificent!

Love and blessings,
Kerryn