Loved this post . I fall somewhere in the middle of the two extremes. We need to bring more awareness to ASD, but like Kim, feel that the marketing strategy is not helpful. Very well put - children with ASD grow up to be adults with ASD, and I almost NEVER see anyone discussing or approaching creative ways to integrate - only "fix". Which I also disagree with. The best quote Ive heard is that a child with austism isnt ignoring you, theyre waiting for you to enter their world. Id change it to "a person" to make it perfect, though. We as a society need to stop putting labels on people and trying to fit them into categories. I used to run an after school program for kids on the spectrum between the ages of 5 -13. Social Skills paired with Gymnastics. It was awesome for their self esteem and actually helped with making connections and relationships with their peers. The reason I bring it up though, is because even the special education system needs some eye opening. I had multiple teachers pull me aside and "warn" me about one of the kids who had signed up, telling me she was too disruptive, too out of control, too this, too that. She's being tested for schizophrenia, you dont want her in your class. She turned out to be one of the most focused, helpful, happy children in all of my classes. Those same teachers came to me again and asked what was my magic. I told them I treated her like everyone else. Oh, and having them tumble and roll and jump on gymnastics mats for an hour and a half probably helped too, lol. Moral of the story - we are all people, and just like someone who likes rap music finding common ground with country loving cowboy music people then why cant we do the same with people on the spectrum? oh, and i guess in the end - austism awareness month at least gets a dialogue started.