The Ignorance Toward Autism

The Ignorance Towards Autism The average person tends to stare, or look away from a person with a disability. The average person is ignorant about the condition that every 1 in 88 people are diagnosed with, which is autism. The average person considers autism to be a disease that a person may “suffer” from, and tend to label these people as “unfixable.” Like the well known character Lennie, from the novel Of Mice and Men, written by John Steinbeck, people cannot seem to understand the reason Lennie acts the way he does, and they tend to disregard his abilities to function correctly. The characters in Of Mice and Men, as well as some people in real life do not realize that having a disability does not automatically make someone useless, and with the right support they can, in fact, still think for themselves, and live normal lives. John Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice and Men, is a story about two best friends, George Milton and Lennie Small, who work from ranch to ranch, and form a dream of owning their own farm one day. Lennie is described to be a “huge man” with a shapeless face, with large pale eyes, and wide, sloping shoulders” (Page 2). These best friends have to stick together because from the start of the novel it becomes apparent that Lennie has a sort of disability. Along with the description of how Lennie looks, and certain incidents that took place throughout the novel, it is suggested that Lennie has a form of autism.
Autistic people usually have problems with social interaction, verbal and nonverbal communication, and have repetitive behaviors and narrow, obsessive interests. Throughout the novel, Lennie displays many of these autistic characteristics. Lennie can communicate and interact well with George, but only because he trusts him. Readers can see this bond especially when Lennie always asks George, “Tell me- like you done before,” to tell him the story of how they are going to live once they own their own farm. However, when spoken to, Lennie