Page 1213 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 2 April 2019
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Rob and Emma are father and daughter and, on their passing, Rob and Emma donated their organs. Of all the contributions we can make, perhaps one of the most, if not the most, generous is donating organs in the rare circumstances where it is possible. For both Rob and Emma, it was possible and for Rob and Emma’s family, Jacqui, Joel and Lauren—Jacqui and Lauren who are here today—the decision was easy. In Jacqui’s words, Rob and Emma were loving, compassionate and giving people and it also simply made good sense to donate their organs.
Knowing and learning more about Rob and Emma, I get the sense that they would be embarrassed to be acknowledged so publicly but would also want the conversation about organ donation to be a loud one. The reality is that organ donation does not make you miss a loved one any less. It does not take the hurt or the grief away. But it does save the lives of others and, in doing so, it honours the people who were generous and giving in their lives with the legacy of being generous and giving, like the life of Rob Caskie and like the life of Emma Caskie. Rest in peace.
World Autism Awareness Day
MS LE COUTEUR (Murrumbidgee) (5.16): I rise today to talk about World Autism Awareness Day because it is today. It is also Go Yellow Day which raises awareness of females with autism. If I actually had any yellow clothing, which I do not, I would have worn some today.
I note that autism is not a disease or a psychological issue and it cannot be cured any more than someone with long arms or of extreme height or short height can be cured. It is a neurological development condition that means that some people’s brains develop differently from others—some parts slower, some parts faster—and it affects every person differently. For example, some have low IQ, some have high IQ. Some may have language delays and some may already be reading by preschool age.
Autism is a spectrum, not a linear scale, which is one of the biggest misconceptions about autism. People are not more or less autistic than others; they simply have higher or lower functioning. People are autistic in different ways and may have different support needs or none at all. They simply see and understand and interact with the world differently.
It is most often identifiable by the different ways a person with autism may focus or give attention to something, having reactions to sensory input—such as an aversion to loud noise or bright lights—or the way a person thinks or processes information. For example, a person with autism is less likely to understand nuances in communication, tending to interpret the world very literally. These features simply mean that they connect with the world and words differently to neurotypical people.
From a young age, society teaches us all that to be different is a bad thing, and so many people with autism learn to hide their true selves, for fear of exclusion or discrimination. They mask and camouflage themselves in order to pass. This does not mean that people like this are no longer autistic; it means that they do not allow others to see their true selves. Some of them try to explain their differences only to find that they are not believed.
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