Autism Awareness Day. By Lumi Tarhala.

 Autism Awareness Day

 I think that talking about people who might not act in a way you'd expect, because of a condition, is incredibly important, because it helps with future and past interactions with them and it makes it easier for people to understand each other. When someone can explain someone else’s actions, it's easier to respond to them.

Talking about autism and having a day dedicated to it is a good thing, because it helps everybody understand the ways in which they might act and react in different situations and when the other person is familiar with the psychological reasons behind the act, they won’t be weirded out or caught of guard by it, and it will be easier for both or all parties to move on from the interactions.

Some people confuse awareness days with celebrations and feel that it’s unfair or unnecessary to have these days, but I think that they’re just confused. Talking about something isn't the same as encouraging it and a diagnosis doesn’t make the condition. Of course people act differently depending on their experiences and everyone is unique, but there isn’t a particular need to teach about everything others might do differently. However, it’s good to teach and bring awareness to specific conditions that are stigmatized, to make the point that people are different, but equally worthy of respect, decency, kindness and opportunities. 

In the end, making everybody aware and accepting of one condition will make them more open to understanding and learning about the behavior of the people around them, and that benefits everybody.