SHEDDING LIGHT ON THE PREJUDICE PREVALENT ALL AROUND THE GLOBE

RAINBOW HUES
By: HyunKyung (Grace) Jung

FOR THE ACCEPTANCE OF AUTISM

MY EXPERIENCE WITH PREJUDICE

My rose tinted glasses first dissolved in

September 2014. Of course, I had learnt
about these things in school, but seeing it
first-hand, watching it happen in front of
your eyesjust like a trainwreck, is entirely
different to merely learning about it.
I had the opportunity of visiting a Home for
the intellectually disabled, which includes
people with autism to fulfill my CAS hours.
(At that time, I didnt realize the difference
between intellectual disability and autism.
Later, I learned that autism occurs by itself or
in conjunction with other disorders like
intellectual disability and that most people
with autism (80%) have intellectual disability
ranging from mild to severe.)
We were introduced to the Home and given an
orientationall of us were wary of what was
going to happen, having lead sheltered lives thus
far, an unfortunate side-effect of being raised in
a first-world countryon how we should
behave and what we should expect. As her
closing remark, the person in charge said, If
anyone is uncomfortable with this type of
service, and wishes to back out, here is your
chance. I can remember it with perfect clarity
to this day; as it was evident from her tone that
a volunteer in previous years, had been
unequppied to deal with the residents, and had
shown prejudice towards them, which had
resulted in negative consequences.

A picture of Bishan Home

I was absolutely certain that no one in our school

would show this kind of prejudice. After all,
werent we constantly being encouraged to be
open-minded?
Following this, we were taken to finally meet the
residents. The residents were certainly different
from normal people (but who is to define what
is normal, anyway?) and I could tell that they
were excited about meeting new people, even if
they were unable to express that in words. The
person-in-charge kindly told us which residents
were autistic and the difference between autism
and intellectual disabilites. Regardless of what
disabilities they had, I was taken by the clear
enthusiasm they expressed, and made a
conscious effort on that first meeting to
introduce myself to the volunteers and share
their enthusiasm. And that concluded the first
day.

Rainbow Hues, 25F Paterson Road, Overseas Family School | www.hopingforautismacceptance.weebly.com

RAINBOW HUES!
Every meeting thereafter, we were able to see
the clear difference between those autistic
and those who werent. People who were
autistic had a fascination with number,
writing them, reciting them and were
interested in arts. Some of the residents
followed the stereotyped behavior such as
hand-flapping and and body-rocking when
they got agitated. Other residents got
nervous when we disrupted their routine as
those with autism have a need for sameness.
Regardless, of their unorthodox behaviour,
all the residents were very sweet to us.
All was well until one return trip where I
witnessed a conversation between two girls;
girls that I had been quite close with, in fact.
They were discussing how abnormal the
people with autism behaved , and how creepy
the behaviour they exhibited was. They had
absolutely no qualms in disregarding the part
where the residentsthough they may have
autismwere very much human, and had
feelings just like us.
Every meeting thereafter, they would withdraw
themselves from the activities we did with the
residentswhich ranged from arts & crafts to
music & dramaand hardly made an effort to
participate, preferring to chat by themselves. A
few of the residents tried to engage their
attention, but they would always be dismissed
and ignored. Eventually, they stopped trying
and the autistic residents who had been ignored
seemed to retreat into their shell.
I was shocked. I was disappointed. I was angry.
It was this type of prejudice, that stopped the
current generation of people with autism from
being able to be accepted into society, and it
was going to be this type of prejudice that
would stop the next generation of autistic
children from unfurling their wings to achieve
their full potential.

PAGE

A picture of a resident smiling with another volunteer

We fear things that we do not understand. And

the majority of the population does not
understand autism, or perhaps we refuse to
understand it. However, is this not a problem
that can be easily solved? What is stopping us
from reaching out to those with autism? We
need to fight to stop this prejudice from
spreading. We need to fight to make people
understand that those with autism are much
more than a simple diagnosis. And most of all,
we need to acknowledge just how strong those
with autism are. What kind of unseen battles must
they be fighting?
If you would like to contribute to the cause of
Autism Acceptance, please reach out to any of
the organizations listed below:
Autism Resource Centre
Rainbow Centre
St. Andrews Autism Centre
Autism Association
Autism Speaks
National Autistic Society
And remember: everyone is a rainbow of
possibilities. We must accept every
shade there is.

Rainbow Hues, 25F Paterson Road, Overseas Family School | www.hopingforautismacceptance.weebly.com