How is autism perceived by the general population?

Recorded on the 2nd of April 2010 at the Edinburgh Axolotl Art Gallery at the opening of a new art exhibition. The 2nd of April was also World Autism Awareness Day. So, I asked people attending to the opening if they knew about this and how much they know about autism.

Ten interviews are shown here.

Whilst no one interviewed knew it was World Autism Awareness day, quite a few knew a fair amount on autism and collectively the level of knowledge was high. Not too surprisingly many had either someone with autism in their family or been in touch with someone in their life, through their work or friends. Suggestions on what would help were also very positive. I am unsure of how representative these opinions were of those from the general population, but overall these accounts are very encouraging. Awareness is clearly improving.

I made a spelling mistake with the name of the art gallery!

it is AXOLTL!

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• Autism
• PDD-NOS
• Asperger
• World Autism Awareness Day
• Autism Spectrum Disorder
• Scotland
• Edinburg

[dancebasedancer]

I agree with you that it's possible that these people at that private viewing were not terribly representative of the general population, but I do think it's fairly encouraging that they have some level of awareness... I would like to ask some of them "What do you think it would be like to live with someone with autism, to care for someone with autism?"

[Skymaker69]

@dancebasedancer @dancebasedancer - Yes, I agree, it would have been a nice question, but we have to be careful of the preconception people might have of the condition and to ask them to imagine a life with them is yet, one step further into the extrapolation. It's important to keep as close as possible to true representation, even if this can be challenging when trying to report on people's opinion.

[dancebasedancer]

@Skymaker69 I completely understand.