Did you know that the month of April is Autism Awareness Month and we celebrated World Autism Day on April 2? As the number of autism diagnoses continues to rise there is an increase in awareness, but it seems at times that autism acceptance is a bigger issue. With the latest numbers from the CDC indicating that autism affects 1 in every 36 children, most families in the US have been impacted either directly or indirectly by an autism diagnosis. With the numbers on the rise, it is vital that we promote autism acceptance. These children only want to be accepted and treated as equals to their peers. Take the time to educate yourself and get to know them as individuals. As you get to know them remember being kind is a key component to acceptance and awareness.
So, in the spirit of awareness, this month we are sharing something that causes confusion for myself and I am sure others on the spectrum. As we have said before, most individuals on the autism spectrum live in a literal world. Because of this there are challenges that neurotypical individuals do not even think about and one of those challenges is with idioms. An idiom can be defined as short phrases with figurative meanings that cannot be understood from the definition of their individual words or also a phrase with a non-literal meaning. The non-literal meaning is where the struggle begins for us. Take a moment and analyze the following phrases that are common in East Tennessee and how you would interpret them if you only heard the words with their literal meanings:
Raining cats and dogs
Cool your heels.
Open a can of worms.
Buy a Pig in a Poke
Elbow Grease
Get your Goat.
Eyes in the Back of your head
Lower the Boom
Stab Someone in the Back
Twist my Arm.
Kill Two Birds with One Stone
Costs an Arm and a Leg
Walking on Eggshells

I am sure you can think of countless other idioms and that you would have known, or at least have an idea, what is meant by each one. In my case, as I have said before, I take phrases like these literally. One example would be when I was younger, I had a hat that I wanted to wear but it kept falling off my head. I was getting mad and frustrated with it and mommy offered me a possible solution. She told me she could pin it on my head. I was shocked and terrified that she would even mention pinning it on to head. My brain immediately thought she was going to take safety pins and prick them through my skin to pin the hat on. I was so relieved when she explained that she was just going to use hairpins to do it. So, we pinned the hat to my head, and I happily continued on to whatever I was doing. As you might be able to tell, these sayings are at the very least confusing when I first hear them. But after an explanation I can usually get what they mean even if I do think they are silly and wonder why anyone uses them instead of just saying what they mean.

We hope this helps you better understand why you may get looks of utter confusion during a conversation with someone on the spectrum. They say that English is one of the hardest languages to learn and I personally believe that idioms contribute to that.