Bringing Awareness to Autism Spectrum Disorder

Autism spectrum disorder, better known as autism, describes the large range/spectrum of social skills, repetitive behaviors, nervous ticks, and nonverbal communication that affects every 1 in 59 children in American today (Austismspeaks). Since autism is a spectrum, everyone who is affected by it is unique with their own personal skills, along with personal weak points. Since autism is a disorder that comes around the ages of two and three in children, I believe educational systems like schools and daycares need to make more of an effort to implement programs such as applied behavior analysis, occupational therapy (ABA), and speech therapy in order to help kids with autism improve their skills at a young age to improve their chances of a more stable and independent adult life. I also believe there needs to be more awareness in general so future, and expecting, parents know the signs of autism and what they can do to improve their child’s’ skills. Because autism is undetectable in the womb, it is very important after the first signs of it appear to begin these said therapies instead of waiting for a formal diagnosis.Bringing Awareness to Autism Spectrum Disorder

In my experience with autism, my younger brother started showing signs of undeveloped speech by the age of 3. However, even though my parents knew something may have been wrong, there was not nearly enough awareness being spread about the disorder to let them know the things they could have done earlier on to help his situation and improve his chances of being able to develop his skills. I believe this is a moral issue because we are not only failing to inform the public about the disorder itself and things people can do earlier on to better a child’s chances of developing skills, but it is also endangering our future because more and more children are being diagnosed and, with no awareness, information, or help from educational environments, parents suffer and most of all, the children who are diagnosed suffer. There needs to be more awareness spread because without it, parents do not know how to detect autism within their child and, even more morally unjust, children suffer because they feel different and may not have the social or verbal skills to express how they feel. The American Academy of Pediatrics states that as soon as a parent feels as if their child is showing signs of autism they should put them into therapy such as ABA and speech therapy (WebMD).Bringing Awareness to Autism Spectrum Disorder If more schools and daycares implemented these types of resources for children, their futures would be brighter and more independent. In Stephen Bickham’s, Future Generations and Contemporary Ethical theory, it is stated that some people may think the present should have no obligation to support the future, yet it is unethical to think this way because it is one of the humans’ ethical responsibilities. In Rawls’ A Theory of Justice, he makes the argument that it is our moral obligation, or as he puts it, justice, to ensure the economic, and most importantly in this case, intellectual and educational “capital” for the future generation. I think these two ethical standpoints help the argument of supporting advocacy and more help provided by educational systems for children with autism since they argue it’s our duty to help the younger generations, which is what we would be doing if more advocacy and therapy was provided.

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