Takeaways from Class

 Student Takeaways from my 1:54 Autism Class (3/10)

• One takeaway from the Special Interests student lecture was that special interests, although people may spend a lot of time on them, can help people with autism process other social structures or processes that are usually difficult to understand for autistic people.
• There are lots of ways to combat stigma, especially by humanizing stigmatized groups.
• Education alone is not the answer to societal issues. I found the study where they educate students and it only moved them to further socially distance themselves. I find that interesting and I like the example because it reinforces the idea that human connection, building empathy, is really what is important.
• Special interests can be a really positive thing for autistic people to use to understand the world and benefit others for jobs/hobbies.
• loved the presentation on Autistic refugees and the presentation on Autistics and Special interests was so illuminating and fun!
• There can be many different things that affect autistic peoples lives (such as forceful displacement and special interests), and it’s important to consider these when talking about autism.
• One takeaway is that sometimes if school-aged children and young adults are educated on different mental illnesses, it causes them to social distance more from people with mental illnesses. This illustrates the need to educate in a humanizing way that is focused on sharing stories, rather than giving cold facts.