FERGUS – What’s it like to have autism?
As World Autism Day (April 2) approaches, 11-year-old Matteo Di Cintio gave it some thought.
“It’s like having a super power,” he said in an interview. “I have a super brain that makes me really smart.”
Matteo was diagnosed with autism when he was four, but his parents suspected long before then that something was up with their son.
“When he was 22 months old we strongly suspected,” said Jessica Di Cintio. “We implemented therapy right away.”
Matteo hit all the growth and developmental milestones, they were just a little delayed, Jessica said.
Speech came very late, she noted, he displayed repetitive behaviours, “and would vanish into his own world.”
Other behaviours included selective eating, not interacting with other children and being drawn to screens.
On the plus side, he’s really good at math and he did some equations in his head while a smart phone tried to keep up.
He attends four or five hours of therapy a week – speech therapy, play therapy and occupational therapy – all of which give him tools to navigate the week and strategies to keep on task.
World Autism Day is a day to think about people who are neuro-divergent, she said, to consider what their lives are like and think about social policies and behaviours that might make someone with autism feel welcome and accepted.
Two per cent of the population is autistic, Jessica said. In Canada that’s one in 50.
She hopes people will recognize World Autism Day and spare a thought for those with differences.
“Think of it as a difference as opposed to a disability,” she said. “And celebrate the spectrum.”
Autism does not display the same for any two people even though they may have some traits in common.
“It takes all kinds of brains to make the world go round,” Jessica added.
“I wish people could see it from my perspective,” Matteo said. “Then they could discover what it’s like.
“Everyone should be treated equally whether they have autism or not.”
World Autism Day is April 2.
A flag will be raised outside the Centre Wellington municipal office in Elora for the day.
