Minggu, 14 November 2010

Stop Using The Word ‘Autis’ in Your Daily Jokes!

This post is totally unrelated to the glamorous side of fashion, but good manners and empathy are always in fashion, aren’t they? So we’re not too far off here. Besides, we have Editor’s Notes section where we can write just about anything. And this is something that I feel strongly about, so I just have to let it out.
Setiap harinya, pasti kita sering banget mendengar kata Autis, apalagi sejak wabah Blackberry melanda sekeliling kita. Banyak orang yang asik dengan Blackberrynya di tengah tengah keramaian dan seolah tidak perduli dengan sekitarnya, seperti salah satu gejala anak yang menderita penyakit autisme, mereka susah untuk berkomunikasi, tidak mempunyai minat untuk bersosialisasi dan seperti hidup di dunianya sendiri.
If my memory serves me right, I have never used the word ‘autis’ outside its correct context, I don’t have a reasoning behind it and never associate it with the disorder, I just don’t use it.. until last night when I saw Lita Mariana (I think she’s also an FD reader) status on Facebook that says “Mencela orang yang menggunakan istilah ‘autis’ dalam candanya. Tidak lucu. Tidak merendah hati. Tidak peka sosial. Ever think of being the parents of one?” That’s when it struck me the bigger picture of it that never occurred to me before.

Autism is of course, not a joke, it’s a brain development disorder, something we don’t want to have, something we don’t wish to our worst enemy, something we wish our unborn children will never have anything to do with it because like everyone else, we want our loved ones to lead a normal life, to develop like other kids and have a bright future, and we’re also afraid that maybe we don’t have the balls to raise an autistic kid.
I don’t know how it is like to be an autistic person, or how hard it is to be a parent of one. Taking care of a kid is not an easy task, let alone taking care of one with special needs. I can’t imagine how the parents must have felt whenever they hear about the insensitive jokes about autism that are inserted in everyday conversation. If one of our loved ones is autistic, we sure wouldn’t have the heart to joke about it, right? This is why we need to stop being insensitive, and give the autistic kids the respect that they deserve and have a little empathy to the parents who have been trying their best to treat their kids, all in the hope that their kids can live a fairly normal life, just like us the lucky ones.
So with all this being said, I’m going to be even more adamant about not using the word ‘autis’  as a slank word, because it’s just not right, and it’s not funny, and you should not use it too, unless you have dealt with one.

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