Autism spectrum disorder (ASD), one of the most misunderstood diagnoses in the world today, is a mental condition referring to the wide range of social difficulties that many people of all ages face. Common symptoms include habitual physical behaviors or “tics,” hardships in communicating with others, repetitive speech, and a lack of emotional expressiveness.
You may, like me, have a sibling with autism. If your sibling has just been diagnosed with ASD, chances are you’ll learn all of these through experience over the years, but it’s good to keep them in mind now as well. (Note that all people’s cases with autism are very different. This just happens to be my story, but most of these will be true regardless of the specific manifestations of autism that your sibling exhibits.)
2You are going to have to spend a lot of time explaining your sibling’s behaviors.
Your sibling is likely going to embarrass you in public at some point. You’re almost certainly going to have to pull someone aside and utter, “Sorry, he/she has autism.” In a perfect world, people would be more understanding whenever your sibling makes a social blunder. Since this isn’t the case, you’re going to have to learn how to briefly and carefully explain your sibling’s behaviors.