absolutely

One of the most crippling aspects of autism, especially for those who are on the HFA end of the Spectrum, is society's reaction to them. As long as autism is treated like something to hide, as long as families with autistic children are treated like pariahs, this will continue.

It will take a very persistant public awareness campaign to change this. People need to understand that autism is not something that is brought about by bad parenting, that it is a physiological problem that needs patience and understanding and above all perseverance to remediate.

What we need are more of the celebrities who live with autism (Marino, Flute, Will Clark, Stallone, to name a few) to come forward and use their cult of personality to de-mythologize autism (no my boy can't count cards like Rain Man!), and to get the message across that these are people worthy of our efforts to help, our love as family or friends, and above all, the basic human respect that we would assume for ourselves.

But hey, haven't seen you here before Jose. Welcome!