Welcome to our collection of Autism Quotes, a space dedicated to sharing insightful and thought-provoking words about autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Autism is a complex neurodevelopmental condition that manifests in various ways, affecting social interaction, communication, and behavior. As we navigate the diverse experiences of individuals on the spectrum and their families, quotes become powerful tools for fostering understanding, empathy, and awareness.
Within these quotes, you’ll find perspectives from individuals on the autism spectrum, their loved ones, advocates, researchers, and more. Each quote encapsulates a unique aspect of the autism experience, offering glimpses into the challenges, triumphs, and profound insights that come with navigating life on the spectrum. Whether you’re seeking inspiration, education, or simply a deeper understanding of autism, this collection aims to shed light on the multifaceted nature of ASD and the individuals who embrace it. Explore these quotes, and feel free to share them whether by copying them, pairing them with imagery, or embellishing them with creative fonts to spread awareness and celebrate the diversity of the autism community. Now, without further ado, delve into the wisdom and perspectives shared in the quotes below.
I decided to study special education and fell in love with working with individuals with autism. That’s what I planned to do with my life. Clay Aiken
I’ve been interested in autism since I’ve known about it, which is more or less since I’ve been writing. William Gibson
If you have a child with autism, and he or she has good intelligence, with no delay in language learning maybe there is an advantage to autism as well? Maybe it gives them a better understanding of mathematics, or science? After all, the essence of science and the essence of autism is to notice patterns that others have not noticed. Simon Baron-Cohen
We might want to figure out what are the positive effects of autism – mild cases. George M. Church
As a scientist leading a funding agency for autism research, I think of autism as a neurodevelopmental disorder. Thomas R. Insel
The idea that vaccines are a primary cause of autism is not as crackpot as some might wish. Autism’s 60-fold rise in 30 years matches a tripling of the U.S. vaccine schedule. Jenny McCarthy
I know children regress after vaccination because it happened to my own son. Why aren’t there any tests out there on the safety of how vaccines are administered in the real world, six at a time? Why have only two of the 36 shots our kids receive been looked at for their relationship to autism? Jenny McCarthy
We can either continue to collectively stand on the sidelines and debate what is causing autism and if it is an epidemic or we can get on the field and start addressing the real problem – a generation of children with autism. We are not focusing enough on prevention, treatments and support services. Jenny McCarthy
My autism is a very mild form. It was diagnosed at the age of 25, partly because it wasn’t diagnosable as a teenager (this is Asperger’s syndrome, specifically). But there were certainly traits within that condition, within the autism spectrum in general, especially at the high functioning end, that I think are best looked at as pluses. Daniel Tammet
What causes autism? As far as we know in 2013, there is no single gene or single environmental factor that accounts for the more than 1 million Americans with ASDs. Thomas R. Insel
My son has autism, and I founded the government relations department at Autism Speaks. Elizabeth Emken
My two little twin brothers have autism, so I grew up around it and misunderstood it for a long time. Lakeith Stanfield
I treasure my meetings with individuals affected by autism – parents, children, teachers and friends. Their strength is inspiring. They deserve all possible opportunities for education, employment and integration. Ban Ki-moon
I have Asperger’s, I’m on the autism spectrum, so I don’t really care about social codes. It makes you think differently. Greta Thunburg
Information on how to heal autism and how to possibly delay vaccines or prevent autism shouldn’t come from me. It should come from the medical establishment. Jenny McCarthy
My brother was diagnosed with autism at age 2. At the time, I was young, so I didn’t really understand what it all meant. The doctors thought there was a possibility my brother wouldn’t be able to speak – he was diagnosed on the severe end of the spectrum. Jacquelyn Jablonski
Autism is a complicated illness, and children with a variety of treatments and non-treatments show improvement over time, which is all to the good. Harvey V. Fineberg
Being a typical teenager isn’t easy. When you have autism, it can be extra difficult. We need more public awareness about these hurdles as well as compassion towards these young people. Holly Robinson Peete
Despite amazing advances in fertility to help older women get pregnant, the complications, increased chances of autism, and chromosomal abnormalities are significant considerations. Faith Salie
I am fairly certain that our budget deficit was not caused by children with autism or 90-year-old grannies in nursing homes, so why take it out on them by cutting services? Lois Frankel
I’m on the autism spectrum. I don’t usually follow social coding and so therefore I go my own way. Greta Thunburg
The government is slowly waking up to the scale of the personal tragedy of delayed autism diagnosis. Jo Cox
What is important is to treat everyone like an individual and learning not to generalize autism. With autism, people make assumptions, but it’s very broad, and everyone’s so different. You have to treat each person as an individual. Nikki Reed
Hope is the greatest thing for moms of autism. Hope is what gets us out of bed in the morning. I’m on a mission to tell parents that there is a way. Jenny McCarthy
Even fictional characters sometimes receive unwarranted medical opinions. Doctors have diagnosed Ebenezer Scrooge with OCD, Sherlock Holmes with autism, and Darth Vader with borderline personality disorder. Sam Kean
Autism does exist on a spectrum, and there are so many manifestations of it, so many kinds of expressions of it. And every case is particular. Claire Danes
Let’s get into talking about how autism is similar animal behavior. The thing is I don’t think in a language, and animals don’t think in a language. It’s sensory based thinking, thinking in pictures, thinking in smells, thinking in touches. It’s putting these sensory based memories into categories. Temple Grandin
Mild autism can give you a genius like Einstein. If you have severe autism, you could remain nonverbal. You don’t want people to be on the severe end of the spectrum. But if you got rid of all the autism genetics, you wouldn’t have science or art. All you would have is a bunch of social ‘yak yaks.’ Temple Grandin
The Flutie Bowl is a great event that brings together people who really care about the autism community. We always have a great time bowling and playing music. Doug Flutie
If you have autism in the family history, you still vaccinate. Delay it a bit, space them out. Temple Grandin
When enough people care about autism or diabetes or global warming, it helps everyone, even if only a tiny fraction actively participate. Seth Godin
For a long time our son was a little boy with autism, which was a certain kind of challenge. Now that he’s a teenager with autism – and a teenager who notices girls – we’re faced with something else altogether. Claire Scovell LaZebnik
My heart goes out to kids with autism. Doug Ford
I wished to God the doctor had handed me a pamphlet that said, ‘Hey, sorry about the autism, but here’s a step-by-step list on what to do next.’ But doctors don’t do that. They say ‘sorry’ and move you along. Jenny McCarthy
What is missing from today’s dialogue is the effect autism is having on families, our society and what the unknown factors are. The 300lb. gorilla in the room is that our children with autism today will soon become adults with autism. Jenny McCarthy
There is a direct correlation between gardening and mental health, not just to maintain good mental health but to repair it as well – that’s anything in the gamut from depression to serious brain damage, schizophrenia or autism. Monty Don
Autism is a very serious condition. George Osborne
Autism is a severe neurodevelopmental disorder that is characterized by social withdrawal, by repetitive behaviors and by some kind of focal attention in its classic form. Basically, it’s an inability to relate to others. Harvey V. Fineberg
In the person with autism, the brain may already be seeing the part and be less distracted by the whole, and in the person without autism the brain may have to set aside its picture of the whole to analyze the detail. Simon Baron-Cohen
A child gets vaccinated and soon after, autism symptoms emerge. The apparent cause-and-effect is understandable but erroneous – more a coincidence of the calendar and childhood developmental stages than anything else, as repeated and exhaustive studies have shown. Jeffrey Kluger
I have an older brother who has autism – James. Adam Elliott
The genetics of autism are real, but there are also environmental triggers. Elizabeth Emken
Who do you think made the first stone spears? The Asperger guy. If you were to get rid of all the autism genetics, there would be no more Silicon Valley. Temple Grandin
As a mom, you worry about protecting your kid. But there are extra added layers of fears when you’re talking about a kid with autism or who has some special needs issue. Holly Robinson Peete
Genes are thought to contribute a certain amount to the cause of autism but it’s not 100 per cent. It might be about 60 per cent genetic. So there are going to be environmental factors that mediate the impact of autism. Simon Baron-Cohen
I think we use a lot of words and labels when trying to describe people: ones with autism, ones without autism. In general, I think that labeling people is a major issue, and people don’t understand the power of language. Nikki Reed
Sometimes people say that kids with autism aren’t capable of love. That’s ridiculous. My son loves deeply. He just doesn’t communicate well. Claire Scovell LaZebnik
Autism doesn’t have to define a person. Artists with autism are like anyone else: They define themselves through hard work and individuality. Adrienne Bailon
My little brother is autistic, so I would love to be involved in a charity for autism, but I haven’t found the right one yet. Nikki Reed
I have a condition called Aspergers Syndrome, which is like a mild form of autism It means I don’t interact properly in certain social situations. Gary Numan
I like what Don Imus has done through the years to help kids with cancer at the Imus Ranch. He has raised awareness about autism. He has done any number of good things. Steve Capus
When our son’s autism was diagnosed at the age of 2, there was no clear prognosis. We didn’t even know if he’d ever learn to talk. But we found talented people to work with him and he improved, slowly at first and then more rapidly. Claire Scovell LaZebnik
It is possible that by studying autism we’ll learn about the nature of talent. Supposedly there’s no connection between scientific talent and autism, but if we look closely, we find a very basic connection. Simon Baron-Cohen
The position of Autism Speaks has been for quite awhile that we need to find out what’s happening. We know there’s a genetic component, and there’s an environmental trigger, and until we get to the bottom of what’s happening, no one knows what causes autism. Elizabeth Emken
Don’t think that there’s a different, better child ‘hiding’ behind the autism. This is your child. Love the child in front of you. Encourage his strengths, celebrate his quirks, and improve his weaknesses, the way you would with any child. You may have to work harder on some of this, but that’s the goal. Claire Scovell LaZebnik
Autism typically means a person may not be fully aware of the consequences of their actions, or understand the consequences of their behaviour on others. Simon Baron-Cohen
I am also a believer in an integrated treatment approach to autism. Temple Grandin
When you take a drug to treat high blood pressure or diabetes, you have an objective test to measure blood pressure and the amount of sugar in the blood. It is straight-forward. With autism, you are looking for changes in behavior. Temple Grandin
Without intervention today, the cost of care for adults with autism will be significantly greater and the burden will no longer lie with the parents, but on our entire society. Jenny McCarthy
I worked for a while as a teaching assistant while I was struggling. I really enjoyed it, working with kids with special needs, autism. It takes a hell of a lot of concentration, and you’ve got to focus on the child properly for seven hours a day. Joseph Mawle
People think about autism as something with kids. Well, those kids grow up. Jason Katims
Autism spectrum disorders are linked to other problems: Most of the people we see in our Asperger clinic for adults also suffer from clinical levels of depression. Simon Baron-Cohen
If you Google some sites about the link between vaccines and autism, you can very quickly find that Google is repeating back to you your view about whether that link exists and not what scientists know, which is that there isn’t a link between vaccines and autism. It’s a feedback loop that’s invisible. Eli Pariser
Society and government at all levels – the state level, the local level and, of course, the federal level – really needs to redouble its efforts if we’re really going to make a difference in combating autism. Chris Smith
I look at autism like a bus accident, and you don’t become cured from a bus accident, but you can recover. Jenny McCarthy
My wife Cecily Adams was dying of cancer, my daughter Madeline was struggling to overcome an autism diagnosis, and my father was dying, all at the same time. Writing the journal was a cathartic experience, and an extremely positive one. Jim Beaver
If you give us a safe vaccine, we’ll use it. It shouldn’t be polio versus autism. Jenny McCarthy
Autism is a neurological disorder. It’s not caused by bad parenting. It’s caused by, you know, abnormal development in the brain. The emotional circuits in the brain are abnormal. And there also are differences in the white matter, which is the brain’s computer cables that hook up the different brain departments. Temple Grandin
The most important thing is to bring people with Parkinson’s into our world and for the public to have a real understanding of it, as they’re beginning to have with autism. Helen Mirren
One in 150 kids is autistic these days. The autism spectrum is growing. Luke Ford
Jenny McCarthy has used her celebrity and sex appeal to attract attention to autism. And while no one questions McCarthy’s determination and passion, many scientists have debunked her anti-vaccine message and her claims that a gluten-free diet can provide a cure. Nell Scovell
The truth is, there is no link between vaccines and autism. Vaccines are incredibly important. Timothy Simons
I did want to acknowledge and confirm the fact that my son does, indeed, have an autism diagnosis. Jenny McCarthy
My son was diagnosed with autism. He’s OK, he makes eye contact, but he doesn’t talk. He needs eight hours a day of very intensive school, and you wouldn’t even believe me if I told you how much it costs. Steve Earle
Studies by many labs have already started to identify specific circuits of neurons involved in normal cognitive function like memory and learning, as well as disease processes such as Parkinson’s disease, depression, and autism. Feng Zhang
From a scientific standpoint, Aspergers and autism are one syndrome. Aspergers is part of the autism spectrum, not a separate disorder. Temple Grandin
We wear ‘Autism’ on our shorts to raise awareness and show support for other families dealing with autism. Callum Smith
One out of six women are toxic with mercury. Mercury comes out of coal plants and chlorine plants. I am toxic, I deal with symptoms, children are born with, you know, autism – there is an epidemic in this country. This is like, the air that we breath. Daphne Zuniga
When you’ve grown up always knowing that there’s something that seemed to be different about you from most people – and not being able to understand until my mid-forties that what we were talking about here was autism – I’ve had to learn an awful let about myself and what I can and can’t do and what I can or can’t cope with. Anne Hegerty
There tends to be a lot of autism around the tech centers… when you concentrate the geeks, you’re concentrating the autism genetics. Temple Grandin
I actually think in some ways that it might be more challenging to be bipolar because it’s so mercurial – it’s so ever-changing. You can’t get any traction. You can’t build on a system. Whereas, somebody who has Asperger’s, which is certainly a much more forgiving expression of autism, can create models for coping and build on them over time. Claire Danes
A lady emailed me that her child had been diagnosed with autism and that hearing my material on the subject had helped her. To me, it just means that I’m making the right decision in talking about this. Ron Funches
Parents of recovered children, and I’ve met hundreds, all share the same experience of doubters and deniers telling us our child must have never even had autism or that the recovery was simply nature’s course. We all know better, and frankly we’re too busy helping other parents to really care. Jenny McCarthy
Corner one of the hundreds of doctors who specialize in autism recovery, and they’ll tell you stories of dozens of kids in their practice who no longer have autism. Ask them to speak to the press and they’ll run for the door. They know better. Jenny McCarthy
I have two young children with autism. What could they have ever done to deserve that? What kind of a God allows the innocent to suffer? It’s a mystery. Yet still, I believe in God. Fred Melamed
If you start using a medication in a person with autism, you should see an obvious improvement in behavior in a short period of time. If you do not see an obvious improvement, they probably should not be taking the stuff. It is that simple. Temple Grandin
My heart bleeds, goes out for families with kids with autism. Doug Ford
I think the core criterion is the social awkwardness, but the sensory issues are a serious problem in many, many cases of autism, and they make it impossible to operate in the environment where you’re supposed to be social. Temple Grandin
Autism is part of who I am. Temple Grandin
What do we know about autism in 2013? Autism symptoms generally emerge before age three and usually much earlier, often as language delays or lack of social engagement. Recent research suggests that autism can be detected during the first year of life, even before classic symptoms emerge. Indeed, the symptoms may be a late stage of autism. Thomas R. Insel
There has never been a verified scientific report that chelation therapy, a gluten-free diet, or anything else can cure autism. Michael Specter
We need our children in Jamaica – especially those suffering with dyslexia, autism, cerebral palsy – to get more attention. Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce
A friend of mine works for Autism Speaks. It’s an amazing cause that is making a real difference in the lives of so many people. Adrienne Bailon
Having two children with autism, it makes you really think about how we do relate to each other. Jocelyn Moorhouse
A National Database on Autism Research is fostering sharing of data and collaborations. Scientists are also making great strides at the interface of biology and engineering with new technologies that are laying the groundwork for future advances. Thomas R. Insel
Working with children with autism is difficult, tiring work, especially since the social rewards – the smile, the eye-contact, the hug, the thank you – that make most of us tick are few and far between. I’ve never tried such an endeavor; I’m in no position to judge anyone. Zeynep Tufekci
My first memory – at about four – was of numbers. The doctors who study me think a combination of mild autism and seizures I had when I was three have made me experience numbers the way I do. Daniel Tammet
Non-fiction is a big responsibility. Rationality. Facts. The urgent need to reflect some small aspect of reality. But fiction is a private autism, a self-referential world in which the writer is omnipotent. Gravity, taxes, and death are mere options, subject to the writer’s fancy. Katherine Dunn
Some people with autism who don’t talk, all they hear are vowel sounds. Like if I said ‘cup,’ they might just hear ‘uh.’ Temple Grandin
I have a long-standing relationship with Autism Speaks. I’ve been supporting them for many, many years now. Nikki Reed