autism shirts

[sukhakuli]

What do you think about kids with autism wearing autism shirts in the parks? Do you think it is helpful or do you think it attracts unnecessary attention?

 

[aaarcher86]

I don't think people pay enough attention to other peoples shirts for it to do either.

 

[mistysue]

I don't think it matters either.

I'm also going to be completely honest with you - shirts like that just irk me. I find myself taking the person less seriously and want to roll my eyes. I'm not just being a jerk though. I used to go to all the family events through my son's early intervention program and the families with autistic children would group off, wear matching shirts and treat us like 2nd class citizens because nobody in the family was autistic. We have also been uninvited in completely unrelated situations when people found out my cognitively delayed daughter was not on the spectrum. So while I am a single incident, I see shirts like that and feel like I am being excluded from a club and you are rubbing it in my face.
Seeing as how labeling a person as autistic or non autistic gives you no clue as to their specific needs, I don't think it could really do much to help.

 

[SueM in MN]

I don't think it matters either.

I'm also going to be completely honest with you - shirts like that just irk me. I find myself taking the person less seriously and want to roll my eyes. I'm not just being a jerk though. I used to go to all the family events through my son's early intervention program and the families with autistic children would group off, wear matching shirts and treat us like 2nd class citizens because nobody in the family was autistic. We have also been uninvited in completely unrelated situations when people found out my cognitively delayed daughter was not on the spectrum. So while I am a single incident, I see shirts like that and feel like I am being excluded from a club and you are rubbing it in my face.
Seeing as how labeling a person as autistic or non autistic gives you no clue as to their specific needs, I don't think it could really do much to help.

I agree with aaarcher that most people probably don't pay enough attention to the shirts for it to matter.

But, if anyone notices, I think the bolded is true. Plus, a person wearing a shirt mentioning autism may not have autism or even have anyone in their family with autism.
I know people who took part in son autism walk. They don't have anyone in their family with autism, but did the walk to support some friends who did. Someone seeing her or her children wearing their autism walk shirts might assume one or both of the kids have autism when they are just wearing the shirts.

 

[StitchesGr8Fan]

While I get your intent, I think that instead of people reading the shirt and being more understanding, a lot of people will think "oh great, another parent who thinks the world revolves around their autistic kid."

 

[kermiebudge]

To me, anything could attract positive or negative attention- it just depends on the perception of the person seeing it.

While someone may get annoyed by it, there may also be another person who is relieved to see someone so open about it. That in turn, could spark a conversation... Other people may be completely indifferent to it. You'd just have to be prepared for any type of conversation to get sparked and decide ahead of time if that's something you'd be o.k. with.

You just never know....so, go with your gut (and heart) and who cares what anyone else thinks!!!

 

[sukhakuli]

Actually it's not for me, or my son. I've been seeing them in the parks a lot lately, and my dh and I have been talking about it, and I was wondering what other people thought. We tend to be very closed mouthed about the whole thing. You'll never see an autism puzzle ribbon on my car, I don't have any autism tattoos (yes, I know moms with these) we don't get the DAS. We try to live as normally as possible.

On the one hand, I see the appeal. My ds does sometimes get bad treatment from strangers and CM's because they expect that he will be able to do things he can't. I don't go around telling everyone he has autism like it's his middle name, so many people can't tell upon first meeting him. After a few minutes it becomes pretty obvious because he has odd motor movements, but it's not immediate.

But on the other hand, I think it makes people stare at the kid, and probably brings a lot of unwanted attention. So, since I'm two ways about it, I wanted to see other opinions.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

While I get your intent, I think that instead of people reading the shirt and being more understanding, a lot of people will think "oh great, another parent who thinks the world revolves around their autistic kid."

Agree.

 

[sukhakuli]

Any other opinions? I'd love to hear from families that it works for. We've chosen one way to raise our son, but that doesn't mean it has to be the right way. This has been a bit of a friendly debate in our household, and I'm not sure what I think.

 

[redberyl]

My daughter's not autistic, but she has other special needs. No tshirts for us, I would think its an invasion of her privacy. Really, it's no one else's business, why announce it to the world?

 

[acebatonfan]

I am thinking about doing something similar for myself and DSis(13). DSis is also on the autism spectrum, and I am concerned that she might be separated from my family. She does not have the cognitive skills to know to find a CM to call DM.

I am a T1 diabetic, and I am afraid of going into a severe hypoglycemic episode while traveling the parks. I do have a medical ID bracelet, but I do not know if someone will notice it right away.

We will both have magic bands, and I am considering doing a diy project with them. For DSis, I am considering writing "autistic" on her magic band somewhere and have DM's cell phone number on the inside. My band will most likely have "diabetic" on it and have my endo's and DF's phone numbers inside with a note that I am on an insulin pump.

It might look really tacky, but I do not want to be in the situation where I am alone and have a diabetic emergency, or DSis is separated from the family, and CM's have no idea who to contact.

 

[Mariep26]

We are the same as you.. we don't use DAS, don't advertise it at all (no tattoos, shirts, etc..). I personally wouldn't do the t-shirts.. we usually do fun Disney ones but nothing specific to autism. On the other hand it can spark nice conversations. On the bus back to AoA, we saw a gentleman with his son and their service dog. MH noted that he had an autism tattoo and started up a conversation.

 

[TDC Nala]

I have never heard of emblazoning one's medical condition on tee shirts. Would it really be of any assistance to do this? The problem with tee shirts is it's generally seen as an advertisement and not a declaration so much about how the tee shirt reader should treat the wearer of the tee shirt. Like wearing a shirt with a Star Wars character or logo on it to declare you are a Star Wars fan. You have then stated you are a Star Wars fan, and you might get a shout out from other Star Wars fans, but you don't expect to be treated a certain way because of it.

I could see wearing a shirt that says "I love my autistic kid" or supporting a charity connected with autism or something like that because you are declaring yourself a member of that community or saying you just like the charity, but putting a shirt on the kid that says "I have autism," would that be just to declare it, or because you are expecting others to see the shirt and behave a certain way around your child? If so, what way would you expect them to behave?

and if the shirt didn't come out and say specifically "I have autism" then it's not necessarily going to be seen as a notification that the person wearing the shirt has autism, as noted above.

 

[DLgal]

When my son was little, we had a shirt for him that said "I have Autism...DUH!"

He only wore it once. When we had a plane ride that he was seriously anxious about. He was 4. We had a feeling he might have a meltdown either boarding the plane or once on it and we really worried that we might get kicked off the plane. We had him wear the shirt just in case, just to sort of be an indicator that his behavior wasn't him just being a brat. He had on a hooded sweatshirt over it. He actually behaved VERY well. We never removed the hoodie. He never wore the shirt again. DH and I just kept it because, honestly, we think it's funny.

Other than that, I have never bought an Autism shirt or worn one of any kind. I also don't do the bumper stickers, magnets, special license plates, etc. I don't advertise my son's autism generally, especially now as he is almost 10 and has outgrown all of the outward behaviors that indicated that he was not typical.

My son does have a Pi shirt with like 5000 digits of Pi on it. He is 9. He has had it since he was 6. If that's not an "autism" shirt, I don't know what it is.

 

[tinkerpea]

I am thinking about doing something similar for myself and DSis(13). DSis is also on the autism spectrum, and I am concerned that she might be separated from my family. She does not have the cognitive skills to know to find a CM to call DM.

I am a T1 diabetic, and I am afraid of going into a severe hypoglycemic episode while traveling the parks. I do have a medical ID bracelet, but I do not know if someone will notice it right away.

We will both have magic bands, and I am considering doing a diy project with them. For DSis, I am considering writing "autistic" on her magic band somewhere and have DM's cell phone number on the inside. My band will most likely have "diabetic" on it and have my endo's and DF's phone numbers inside with a note that I am on an insulin pump.

It might look really tacky, but I do not want to be in the situation where I am alone and have a diabetic emergency, or DSis is separated from the family, and CM's have no idea who to contact.

Instead of doing it on her MB which is a special momento,could you not get a charity band and write on that? I've also seen snap wristlet " not sure what you would call them" there a piece of material that has plastic in it that bends and when you tap it on a surface it rolls up like a bracelet,we got a plain one and wrote our numbers and diagnosis on that.

 

[lanejudy]

... We will both have magic bands, and I am considering doing a diy project with them. For DSis, I am considering writing "autistic" on her magic band somewhere and have DM's cell phone number on the inside. My band will most likely have "diabetic" on it and have my endo's and DF's phone numbers inside with a note that I am on an insulin pump. ...

Instead of doing it on her MB which is a special momento,could you not get a charity band and write on that? I've also seen snap wristlet " not sure what you would call them" there a piece of material that has plastic in it that bends and when you tap it on a surface it rolls up like a bracelet,we got a plain one and wrote our numbers and diagnosis on that.

Keep in mind that a CM will NOT remove the MB or bracelet to read something written on the underside, especially in the event of a lost child. They may or may not even look at it to find anything written on the outside, but it has better chance of being seen that way than on the side against the skin.

I don't know how accurate this is, but I read recently that CMs "may" use MBs in the case of lost children to pull up the parent's MDE account info for a cell phone number. I'm not sure if that is true or not, but a possibility.

Enjoy your vacation!

 

[LockShockBarrel]

Even without Disney, I think you find 3 personalities with disability "advertisement". Privacy, Pride, and Pretentious.

I get all 3 to a point...and I think the 3rd can come without realizing it's happening. It starts innocently enough then all of a sudden you're "that" person.

What really kills me is when other people sort of push the pride/pretentiousness onto those with issues. For instance tonight on America's Got Talent tonight there was a female singer, young, who has depression and anxiety. That was presented to the judges first..then she sang. Sure she was good but how much of their reaction is based on knowing that about her first? Why do things tend to be "they have this issue and they're such a good singer/dancer/etc" rather than "wow they're so good...and they happen to have this issue"? It irritates me when others make those with issues out to be on a pedestal, the "you're such an inspiration!" thing. I've had issues, still have some, but I'll be darned if anyone is going to impose that sort of view on me.

It's a bit tangent-y but I guess I bring that all up because I can't imagine putting someone what acts as a warning beacon. I guess I fall under a midset of Privacy and Pride, I don't advertise my issues but I don't keep them secret if it comes up, and I mention them if it's something that needs to be mentioned. If I had a child with an issue I'd do the same thing for them.

 

[SueM in MN]

I am thinking about doing something similar for myself and DSis(13). DSis is also on the autism spectrum, and I am concerned that she might be separated from my family. She does not have the cognitive skills to know to find a CM to call DM.

I am a T1 diabetic, and I am afraid of going into a severe hypoglycemic episode while traveling the parks. I do have a medical ID bracelet, but I do not know if someone will notice it right away.

We will both have magic bands, and I am considering doing a diy project with them. For DSis, I am considering writing "autistic" on her magic band somewhere and have DM's cell phone number on the inside. My band will most likely have "diabetic" on it and have my endo's and DF's phone numbers inside with a note that I am on an insulin pump.

It might look really tacky, but I do not want to be in the situation where I am alone and have a diabetic emergency, or DSis is separated from the family, and CM's have no idea who to contact.

Keep in mind that a CM will NOT remove the MB or bracelet to read something written on the underside, especially in the event of a lost child. They may or may not even look at it to find anything written on the outside, but it has better chance of being seen that way than on the side against the skin.

I don't know how accurate this is, but I read recently that CMs "may" use MBs in the case of lost children to pull up the parent's MDE account info for a cell phone number. I'm not sure if that is true or not, but a possibility.

Enjoy your vacation!

I agree with lanejudy. I have also read that CMs could use the information the Magicbsnd is linked to, bu don't know if it's true that they use it in lost child situations.

My thought since you are planning on writing Diabetic and putting contact phone numbers on the inside of your Magicband is that you have a generic medical ID.

If that is true, I would suggest getting one instead from MedicAlert. Medical care providers and first responders are taught to look for a medical tag in situations where the person can't speak for themselves. With MedicAlert, the band is engraved with a short list of your medical conditions and ia member number, along with MedicAlert's 24 hour phone number. By calling that number, medical care providers can get contact information that you keep in and keep up to date.
www.medicalert.org

MedicAlert can also be used for people with autism and they have some special services available for people with autism, including a GPS service.
http://www.medicalert.org/products/gps/autism

 

[tinkerpea]

Keep in mind that a CM will NOT remove the MB or bracelet to read something written on the underside, especially in the event of a lost child. They may or may not even look at it to find anything written on the outside, but it has better chance of being seen that way than on the side against the skin.

I don't know how accurate this is, but I read recently that CMs "may" use MBs in the case of lost children to pull up the parent's MDE account info for a cell phone number. I'm not sure if that is true or not, but a possibility.

Enjoy your vacation!

We always write our on the outside! And a Cm has used it twice while at disney it was a great help.
We taught our son to give the band to the cm when ever he gets lost,
Or to at least point- show the hand! Many CMs know that this means the child is wanting you to read something.

 

[acebatonfan]

Keep in mind that a CM will NOT remove the MB or bracelet to read something written on the underside, especially in the event of a lost child. They may or may not even look at it to find anything written on the outside, but it has better chance of being seen that way than on the side against the skin.

I don't know how accurate this is, but I read recently that CMs "may" use MBs in the case of lost children to pull up the parent's MDE account info for a cell phone number. I'm not sure if that is true or not, but a possibility.

Enjoy your vacation!

Thanks for the information. My medical ID has my name, condition, and DF's cell written on the underside. I have a similar form of medical ID on my phone's lock screen (photo, name, condition, DF and DM's numbers, medications), but I do not know if CMs are allowed to use my phone to get that information.

In the long run, it might not be worth it to write down conditions on the MB. Luckily, there has not been a lost child situation with DSis yet. I will most likely force one member of my party to be with me at all times and train them in how to handle those emergencies.

It would be nice if notes could be written using the MDE app that could be accessed by scanning the MB's. It would be so much easier writing "Diabetic -if unconscious, use red glucagon in the outside pocket of purse. Call 911 and this number" than trying to find a way to put that information in an easy-to-see location for CM's.