According to the Autism Society more than 3.5 million Americans live with autism. Here on campus many students are part of this statistic.

Although most students are familiar with the word “autism”, there can be misconceptions regarding it as it’s not a one size fits all disorder.

Instead, there’s a spectrum that ranges from high functioning to low functioning.

“People a lot of times think that every kid with autism is the same and they think the same way because there is a stigma around how they deal with social abilities and cognitive abilities. Mainly they are all different in a way,” SPED teacher Joseph Wilson said. “Autism isn’t a single defining mental disability, it just means that they are different for a lot of reasons and one kid can learn a different way another one will act with people a different way and it varies from each individual.”

For most students on campus, things are relatively the same when compared to other students, however for those who live with autism, life might be a little more challenging.

“Well it’s kind of an interesting deal. My autism is one the high end of the spectrum. Specifically its known as asperger syndrome but due to the fact that people decided to put it with the spectrum all together it’s no longer a diagnosis,” senior Rayden Gispanski said. “One thing many people never tell about autism is that a lot of us it’s not from up in here (points to head) but we have other symptoms like we are extremely sensitive in the stomach area. We have sensitive vision so bright lights can affect us and our ears are extremely sensitive to noises so we can hear things that are much higher pitch than is normal.”

Although autism has had a stigma surrounding it, clubs on campus and the promotion of autism awareness through the month of April has allowed student and staff to be more exposed to the reality of the disorder.