Autism Expressions

Introducing "Autism Expressions," an online store specializing in t-shirts, hoodies, wall art, and various other items featuring messages that promote the needs of children and adults with autism and support their self-advocacy. The designs are created by a dedicated psychologist who has worked extensively with families of children with autism and recognizes that these individuals are often underestimated by society. magine that you're around eight years old. You're curious about how the universe was created, how tides work, whether satellites orbiting the Earth will fall, what Antarctica looks like, how and where the first people lived, and why giraffes have such long necks... Imagine that you have thousands of questions in your head. However, your body won't let them out because your brain can't control your body properly. You can't speak, you can't use sign language, and you can't point to the correct answer. Day by day, you're taught that this color is blue, this is a table, these are hands, this is a nose. No one tells you anything about the universe, Antarctica, satellites, or giraffe necks. Blue is blue, and a nose is a nose. Nothing more. Not now, not in a month, not in a year. You are trapped in a non-cooperating body, and the world judges you based on what you can do. You endure a torment that no one else knows about. It would probably make for a good horror story. This horror is evidently experienced by nonverbal autistic children. Maybe just a few, maybe half, maybe all of them. We have no way to find out. We can't find out without trying to look for ways to help them communicate what they genuinely want to communicate, without constantly offering them more interesting information. Even if they seem not to understand that the thing between their eyes is called a nose. Maybe they understand, but they just can't or don't want to point to it when asked. Perhaps they simply want to hear something more interesting and age-appropriate.