If you haven't heard about #thedress yet, then get out from the rock you're living under. This picture of a striped dress took the internet by storm yesterday, causing millions of arguments all over the world. The people who saw blue and black were convinced that what they were seeing was the truth, and the people who were seeing white and gold felt the same. The frustration of not understanding how the other group of people saw those certain colors is the exact same frustration that people living with autism feel on a daily basis.
People with autism see things, hear things, taste things, smell things, and feel things differently. Their life experience is completely different than ours in many many ways. Each person that has autism experience different things, but usually, each have an extreme sensory issue of some kind. Some can't touch certain things due to how it feels to them, some can't be in loud places due to how sensitive they are to pitch. The list goes on and on. And every day, they are looked at as different, and less than those who don't have the same sensory experiences that they do. All because of how their bodies react to certain senses.
Now, think back on the dress scenario. What color you see is most likely different than what your best friend sees, or what your mom sees, or what your little brother sees. Does that mean that they are less of a person because of it? Weird because of it? Should be made fun of because of it? No! It simply means that they are having a different sensory perception than you are.
Think about how frustrated the entire world got in a couple of hours because of the different colors everyone was seeing. That is how people with autism feel every single day of their lives. Hopefully the next time you see a person with autism, you have a better understanding of what they are going through, and can use that perspective that you now have to educate people around you.
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