April is Autism Awareness Month

It seems that every week there's a new "Celebrate This problem/disease/group of people" day.  Under this barrage of emails and Facebook events, comments, feeds and invites we tend to forget about them and think "Arg! Everyone's always looking for more of my money!"

I too was thinking about the best way to support a certain cause.  Not all of us have extra cash that we can give out to the various charities that support each cause.  Instead, I came up with a short list of other ways that you can help.  The example I am using today is April is Autism Awareness.  So, the examples below are how you can support this cause in different ways!

• If you don't know what Autism is, do some research online or at your local library!  (Please use more than just one website/book to form your conclusion).  This will help you be more knowledgeable about the disorder and eliminate stereotypes that you may have.
• Many people have autistic people in their family or circle of friends.  Plan to spend a few hours or a day with them and their family.
• Have a discussion with an autistic person to see how they see the world! This works well with high-functioning children/adults as they are more able to articulate what they see/think/feel
• Do some research about local charities that are supporting the cause.  If you choose to donate time or money, make sure you know some information about them ahead of time.  Talk to people as well as online research!
• If you want to support a national charity, speak to friends and families of Autistic children/adults.  These families have all been involved in many different organizations and can provide information as to which charities help directly or indirectly.  This way you can get some first hand information on how certain organizations work to help individual families!

These are just a few ways you can help to learn about and support any cause!  My advise is always to start local!  It is much easier to see the difference you have made by starting with someone in the community!