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​Living with autism: Please don’t ridicule nor humiliate

<p>Teacher Eti Umana (far right) and paraprofessional Reginal Jones (far left) allow their students to experience the Detroit Institute of Arts.</p>

Teacher Eti Umana (far right) and paraprofessional Reginal Jones (far left) allow their students to experience the Detroit Institute of Arts.

Some students may not think that their peers with autism can be typical teens, but many of them are. Autism is a brain disorder and genetics is one key contributor. 

“Just like all kids are unique, the same is true with autism,” said board certified behavior analyst Molly Gardner of University Pediatricians Autism Center. 

It is difficult for the younger generation to understand the dynamics of autism which can be hard for the student with the disorder.

“If you don’t have the right kind of friends to understand it, you’ll be ridiculed or humiliated,” said junior and honor student Damoni Reese.

When teens think of others with autism, they may have some preconceived ideas about their abilities. Most of these assumptions are inaccurate. 

“People think they cannot learn, they cannot function within the population and we find that not to be true,” said autism spectrum disorders teacher Eti Umana. 

When teens hear autism, they automatically think that these students don’t have the ability to interact nor be successful. There are autistic students who have a regular schedule, and some are in honor classes. They are very intelligent and should not be treated badly nor bullied. 

“Sometimes they [students] would yell at me or call me stupid or get in my face thinking I’m dumb,” said Reese.

Just like all teens want to be treated with respect, autistic teens are no different. 

“They’re normal people like us, they’re very intelligent, very smart, you have to treat them with the same amount of respect,” said Umana.

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