Light it Up….Pink?!

Today we celebrate World Down Syndrome Day.  The kids and I have joined many others around the world by wearing colorful mismatched socks.  The goal of the mismatched socks?  For someone to ask about them so that we can say we are celebrating all the wonderful things about people with Down Syndrome while helping to advocate for individual rights, inclusion and respect.

Wearing my mismatched socks, I think about another day ahead where the world will light it up blue for autism on April 2nd.

But Robyn, did you say light it up pink?

I did.  But no, the world is not really going to light it up pink.  Pink will still be reserved for Breast Cancer Awareness month in October.

Did you know why the world lights up blue for autism?

To help raise understanding and acceptance for people with autism.  I have written many times where I have found our family in an organization that was AWARE of autism but didn’t understand autism and was unable to include Declan, and therefore our family.

But I mean, do you know why the world lights it up BLUE.

I checked.  Here is what I found:

The answer is that Autism Spectrum Disorders are almost 5 times more common among boys (1 in 54) than among girls (1 in 252). So, the color blue represents the boys diagnosed with autism.(Apr 2, 2012)

Different articles tell me different specific numbers when it comes to those statistics, but generally speaking, boys are at least 3 times more likely these days to be diagnosed with autism than girls.

I have written about this discrepancy in diagnosis in the past, questioning why boys and girls are being diagnosed against the same criteria when autism presents differently in boys than it does and girls.

“Autism and Girls:  The Hidden Gender”

“The Need for Better Ways to Identify Girls with Autism”

“Why are Boys Diagnosed with Autism more than Girls”

“Why are Boys Diagnosed with Autism more than Girls – Part 2”

The reason for the concern?  If girls are being overlooked because they are not meeting the diagnostic criteria that is fitting 3 times as many boys, then they are not getting the treatment they need. 

Girls are affected by autism.  I think more often than they are being diagnosed.

So I thought it was pretty neat to see the following article:

2018 World Autism Awareness Day observance
“Empowering Women and Girls with Autism”

In the article (found here) I learned that on the upcoming World Autism Awareness Day the United Nations Headquarters in New York will be focusing on empowering women and girls with autism and plan to involve them in policy and decision-making to address these challenges.

The article states:

Girls with disabilities are less likely to complete primary school and more likely to be marginalized or denied access to education. Women with disabilities have a lower rate of employment than men with disabilities and women without disabilities. Globally, women are more likely to experience physical, sexual, psychological and economic violence than men, and women and girls with disabilities experience gender-based violence at disproportionately higher rates and in unique forms owing to discrimination and stigma based on both gender and disability. As a result of inaccessibility and stereotyping, women and girls with disabilities are persistently confronted with barriers to sexual and reproductive health services and to information on comprehensive sex education, particularly women and girls with intellectual disabilities including autism.

I think this is great and am excited some time and energy will be spent focusing on women and girls with autism and discussing these challenges from their perspective.

So whatever you do this April for autism awareness month, or if you wear blue for World Autism Awareness Day, keep the girls in mind and the unique challenges they face as well.

Word Prompt: Invisible