The month of April is Autism Acceptance Month, but it hasn’t always been recognized this way, especially by those outside the autism community. The Autism Society of America shifted the terminology from awareness to acceptance to help people view autism as a part of human diversity. Manager of Autism Services at SSM Health Treffert Center in Fond du Lac, Meg Puddy, the slogan for Autism Acceptance Month is “Nothing about us without us.” It means that decisions about autism need to be made by or with autistic people and centering stories and experiences of autistic people. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about one in 36 children have autism spectrum disorder and Puddy says in Wisconsin one in 44 children in the four year old population have been diagnosed with autism.
