10 Things Every Child With Autism Wishes You Knew

Since World Autism Day (April 2nd) is quickly approaching, I found it appropriate that i talk a little bit about autism in terms in human dignity. Did you know that about 1 out of ever 110 kids has autism? According to, Autism Speaks, autism is more common that childhood cancer, juvenile diabetes and pediatric AIDS combined. Austin is a broad term typically used to describe a variety of disorders formally known as Autism Spectrum Disorders. Some of the disorders grouped into this category include Pervasive Developmental Disorders (PDD), PDD-NOS (Pervasive Developmental Disorder – Not Otherwise Specified), Asperger's Syndrome, Rett Syndrome, and Childhood Disintegrative Disorder. According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, there is a variety of characteristic that children with autism may have, some of which including impaired social interaction, inability to respond to their name or make eye contact with others, engaging in repetitive movements such as rocking or twirling, and many more. I found this video called 10 Things Every Child With Autism Wishes You Knew and it speaks a little to how dignity can be linked to autism.


The part of the video that really hit me, especially in terms of dignity, was the beginning.  So many children with autism are labeled "autistic."  More importantly, the video also raises the question, "are you a person with thoughts, feelings, and many talents?"  More often than not individuals with mental illnesses are defined by those mental illnesses and not by the unique personality characteristics that make that individual a person.  People with other illnesses such as diabetes are typically not identified just for having diabetes, so why is someone with autism typically identified for having autism?  Not recognizing someone for being a person is essentially stripping away their dignity.  This kind of goes along with Kateb who, I believe, would say no one should feel as if he or she is any more or any less a person than he or she really is.  We need stop judging people for being different and instead embrace and value people for their differences, especially if that difference is a mental illness. 

I believe very strongly in organ donation.  I am an organ donor, I have convinced family members to become organ donors, and I have given a few persuasive speeches on organ donation (so hopefully I have also demonstrated the benefits of organ donation to my peers).  Typical organ donations occur once the donor has deceased; however the number of living donations that occur is increasing.  According to Donate Life America, living donors are able to donate their kidneys, a lobe of a lung, part of their liver, a piece of their pancreas, or a section of their intestine.

I believe strongly in organ donation but would I actually be able to undergo the knife to save a stranger’s life?  My immediate reaction is YES!  I am healthy, I can live a pretty normal life after the donation, so why not offer someone else a second chance at life.  It would be selfish not too, right? 

After recently reading an article titled, “The Kindest Cut” written by Larissa MacFarquhar all of my thoughts surrounding donation began to stir.  The article focused on a website, MatchingDonors.com.  MatchingDonors.com is a website that people waiting for organs can go on to post their story and see if anyone is willing to help them by donating an organ.  The article explored stories of people, often times complete strangers, who underwent a living donation.  The article also explored some of the criticisms living donors face.  You think people would be praised for donating their kidneys to strangers, but in reality, that is not always the case.  Sometimes living donors are looked down upon because other people view them as trying to play God- they are deciding who lives or dies.

What would Peter Singer say about all of this?  Well for a man who argues that peoples' surplus to essentials should be given up in an article titled, "The Singer Solution to World Poverty", I believe he would also argue that peoples' extra kidney should be donated to help decrease the number of kidney transplantation candidates on the donor list.  He argues that the money used to pay for a new car could save children's lives, so I believe he would also argue that the extra kidney in someone's body could and should be used to save others' lives. 

Now it comes down to do I agree and would I offer a kidney to someone else?  I'm contradicted.  I do agree with what I believe Singer would believe.  I do think not giving up a kidney is selfish, but that being said I do not know if I would actually be able to go through with the process.  I went on Matching Donors.com and I was overwhelmed.  Who would I pick?  What should I type in my search box?  Just because I live in Pennsylvania, should I eliminate the recipients in California?  If I did give up one of my kidneys, what should the criteria I look in the recipient be?  But most importantly, I thought of all of the lives I was not able to save.  Who am I to decide who lives and who dies?