Downey High students do part to raise autism awareness

As Autism Awareness Month is observed across the nation, students at Downey High School are using lunch periods to share messages including “I am not my autism.”

Around campus are posted signs such as “Don’t dis on my ability” and “Tuesday = Come learn something new (quad).”

On Tuesday, students in teacher Caitlin McCandless’ class for kids with moderate to severe autism helped staff a table in the quad. They distributed awareness ribbons, candy and printed facts about autism spectrum disorder.

They shared with classmates information like: “Individuals with autism typically have difficulties in verbal and nonverbal communication, social interactions and leisure or play activities.”

“The SH (severely handicapped) autism class here wanted to represent on our campus, show our peers that autism is prevalent on campus but doesn’t define who we are,” McCandless said. “… The spectrum is so wide, there are kiddos you probably wouldn’t know have been diagnosed. … It affects one in 68 kids.”

One of the disorders is Asperger’s syndrome, considered to be on the “high functioning” end of the spectrum. According to the organization Autism Speaks, “Affected children and adults have difficulty with social interactions and exhibit a restricted range of interests and/or repetitive behaviors.”

McCandless has nine students in her SH class, and she said they’re among the most popular kids in school.

“This campus is so cool,” she said. “These kids really are wonderful students who treat everyone with respect. It’s fun to see kids who might be a little rough around the edges melt when they see my students.”

Among the students who stopped by the autism awareness table in the quad Tuesday were senior Destiny Flores and her friend Emilia Bejarano, a junior. Destiny’s 7-year-old brother, Matthew, has autism.

“He has a speech impediment but is very high on the motor skills spectrum,” Flores said. “Some words are very hard for him to pronounce.”

She said she was very happy to see McCandless’ class raising awareness.

“It’s very important for me to have people understand autism is a disability, but at the same time, it’s not. It makes a person unique. It’s not right to be judgmental about learning disabilities.

“They’re very unique and amazing people – very smart with technology and things like building with Legos. It’s crazy.”

Bejarano added that many of the coolest people she knows have autism.

“They’re people who are just really easy to get along with. … They’re happy and they want to make people happy,” she said. “Like anyone else, things bother them, but they just want to do their own thing. They’re upfront about who they are.”

It is common for people with autism to have excellent technology skills, McCandless agreed. In February, Parade magazine carried an article about Exceptional Minds, a visual-effects animation studio serving Hollywood that’s also a nonprofit vocational training program for young adults with autism.

But the teacher cautioned against making generalizations about people with autism.

“We like to say that when you’ve met one kid with autism, you’ve met just that – one kid,” McCandless said.

There are students in dance, students who go to the gym, students who love baseball, football and other sports, she said.

“There are students who love dinosaurs and can tell you everything about them.”

Autism manifests itself in any number of ways, she said, including noise sensitivity, light sensitivity and the need for pressure on different areas of the body for the calming effect. Some kids wear weighted vests or use weighted blankets. Some are nonverbal, and some have echolalia, meaning they simply repeat what other people say.

To learn more about autism, visit the Autism Society website at www.autism-society.org or the Autism Speaks site at www.autismspeaks.org.

This story was originally published April 13, 2016 at 2:14 PM with the headline "Downey High students do part to raise autism awareness."