Autism: Complex Social Issues In Today's Society

There are many pieces to this puzzle known as autism, which makes it one of the most complex social issues faced by today’s society. Although autism is a widespread condition that affects the lives of millions of Americans, there is still the majority of the American population that remains uneducated regarding this condition. The lack of cure has propelled many autistic people towards a life of uncertainty and hopelessness. While this is true, there are some solutions that can make life better for the many individuals suffering from autism and their families. Like any other problem, first it has to be addressed at the top level. The United States Government simply needs to do more to address this issue. First of all government officials need to implement new laws that protect autistic people from discrimination and any other form of abuse. Some existing federal laws have to be altered to equal things out between autistic individual and “normal” people. Then these laws have to be strictly enforced to ensure the seriousness of the matter. One other solution is instead of investing the majority of the funds towards a potential research for a cure, is to invest them towards improving the lives of the millions already diagnosed with autism living amongst us. In addition to that, more funding needs to be made available to schools for the purchase of assistive technology, as well as hiring or training more special education teachers. In communities where there is already a large population of autistic children, establishing specialized schools for autistic people could be beneficial. Police departments should educate their officers on how to deal with autistic individuals. Also the medical field must include autism as part of generalized medicine rather than specialized. Lastly, the schools and the parents have to teach the young children how to be respectful and compassionate towards people that might look or act differently. Helping autistic individuals is not only beneficial to them, but it is for the entire society to function properly. The new laws that will provide protection to autistic people from discrimination and abuse, as well as equality will profit the U.S. Government as well, by saving funds that are going towards government funding equal rights organizations. Also free from discrimination autistic individuals will be able to secure well …show more content…
Because of that many children cannot function properly in regular public schools, thereby the need of specialized schools is gravely needed. The establishment of such schools not only will be beneficial to these children, but to all other students as well. Severely autistic kids have frequent violent outbursts that could be very distracting and scary for all other students. Police departments will greatly improve by educating their police force about autism. Police officers will be able to recognize if a person is suffering from a condition. Doing so will eliminate unnecessary police brutality towards someone that might not be able to understand simple commands. Also less law suits against police departments will arise. Another profession that will gain a lot by being educated better is the medical profession. Making all the doctors and medical personnel aware of autism, rather than a selected few specialized, will increase the quality of diagnosis and treatment. Fewer parents will get upset as the misdiagnosed cases will plummet and less malpractice court cases will