best and worst countries for autism awareness?

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What in your opinion are the best and worst countries for autism awareness? Which countries are most ignorant?

In my spouse's country, the Philippines, autism is popularly regarded to be a form of mental illness, in spite of the fact that the president's nephew is autistic. Doctors advise parents against the MRA jab because it is held to be a 'cause'.

In China, I hear there is no equivalent word for 'autism'. The nearest equivalent is 'lonely man syndrome'. If you complain to a doctor there, they will tell you to 'find more friends'. If someone with experience of the situation in China can corroborate this I would like to read it.

Does anyone else have other stories?

Best - USA
Worst - Russia/post Soviet countries.

I don't think there are any good countries for Autism Awareness, because they always take the sides of the parents and families instead of listening to us.

Some of us are also parents!

As someone living within the former Eastern Bloc (Bulgaria was a satellite state of the USSR and a member of the Warsaw Pact), I can elaborate on this:

In general, the Soviet-style philosophy about treating mental conditions can be summarised in one word: hopeless. If you have a mental disorder, your life is over. You are as good as dead. In fact, it would be better if you were dead, so that the state wouldn't have to pay for your treatment.

People are VERY afraid of persons with disorders. And they do not differentiate - even people with epilepsy are considered to be "dangerous lunatics".


There is a very fresh example for this - this morning, a 5-member family was found dead in their apartment. The media found out that one of the two sons of the family (27 years old) had some kind of "mental disorder" and so they automatically decided that he was the murderer. And everyone seems to believe in this hypothesis. No evidence whatsoever has been found until now, yet everyone is convinced that the "crazy guy" did it.

The comment sections of news sites are overflowing with comments like "Why are crazy people allowed to live among us? Why aren't they locked up or put to sleep?" Yes, I actually read one such comment. It's horrifying...


I wish mental disorders were the only aspect of the problem, but they aren't. Different people as a whole are feared and hated in post-communist society. A few years ago, some teenagers assaulted and murdered another teenage boy because "he looked gay" to them (it was later proven that the victim was heterosexual).

He looked gay. And so he had to die because of that

In China, I doubt relatively minor forms of autism would even be considered a disability. Of course, disregarding social norms is going to cause you huge problems, and even prison in some cases, but relatively passive people with HFA or Aspergers who keep their mouth shut, can get by on a basic social level (respect for authority, etc.), and are good at their job probably fit in just fine. The culture does not value extroversion, shyness is not stigmatized, and there is very little weekend culture. You probably aren't going to get the highest paying jobs, but on the other hand, you might since the famous guanxi is more about your family than your shining personality. The ability to follow instructions and do repetitive tasks well is values as well.

I wouldn't be surprised if more than 20% of the mainland Chinese population would qualify for an Aspergers/HFA diagnosis in the U.S. Being quiet, respectful, good at my job, and able to read enough basic social cues not to lose face (usually) did not save me from a diagnosis here. In my job over there among a large group of foreigners, I was awarded "most Chinese foreigner" by our Chinese colleagues. In the U.S., I'm just autistic and have a horrible boring personality.

Also, at least as a foreigner, people (particularly young female friends) will almost always call you out if you make a social faux pas, and they will tirelessly explain every intricacy of social situations. One friend claimed that friends (not strangers or acquaintances) are actually much much more blunt with each other, too, than Westerners are. I think this may be so under some circumstances. I lived in a less developed area, however. This may not be the case in Shanghai or HK.

I found all that incredibly helpful.

I liked it over there, personally.

Here in Panama, autism, even mild autism, falls under one term: Ahuevado, meaning "egg headed" or stupid, and therefore, people feel free to tease you, annoy you, insult you, pester you, and, of course, give you advice you didn't ask for.

People think that autism = retardation. Bear in mind that we are talking about a country with 3,800,000 people, and only three or four bookstores in the entire nation, and three of them are inside malls where foreigners are the main customers. It is a country where intellectuals are seen as boring people. Panama takes a lot from the US, and that includes the anti-intellectual sentiment. Autism here is regarded as a disability, period, but that's starting to change.

But Panamanians keep to themselves most of the time. In fact, sometimes when you ask them questions, they are so rude they don't even answer. It has something to do with how rude they are.

I'm guessing third-world countries are the worst.

Autistic parents of autistic kids are listened to as long as they pretend to be NT parents of autistic kids. If the NT parents realize that they're autistic as well, they're silenced.

However, there is one country I know of that's doing autism awareness right - Great Britain.

Isn't the US like this also?

I couldn't agree more!

I live in Puerto Rico and here you never see anyone disabled with a job, ever. Anyone who is autistic will either end up in some type of mental hospital or living with their over protective parents forever. I worry about my son. The view of autism here by most is that it is a horrible disease that must be exterminated...

Trinidad is so bad the average person thinks autism is caused by an infectious evil spirit called a jumbie, more than once people have stopped me or my wife on the street to tell us we need to do obeah rituals to cure it.

That is if they even notice our son is not just a rude or misbehaved child who needs to be beaten. That is not sarcasm.


www.trinidadexpress.com/news/_Jumbies__ ... 88973.html

A school closed due to evil spirits.

Lebanon. People are in denial about mental health issues. They think their kids are perfect amd you're the one making up their troubles. Also,too much noise and garbage pollution makes for an uncomfortable place to live..

Rural, southern India.

All autistic kids need are exorcisms on a regular basis and they will be "cured".

Pretty much. I know the social climes out there can be tough but I'm confused why anyone would think the U.S. provides any advantages whatsoever for people with AS. We have no public health services, mental healthcare here amounts to a drug ring pyramid scheme, we'll incarcerate anybody, we've got hands down the rudest hiring/firing practices ever conceived and we've got NTs trying to monopolize all the communication on earth. Did I forget to mention the largest companies on Earth still pay people minimum wage?

The one thing the U.S. has going for it is material wealth. If people would put down their iPhones for a week and grab toolboxes, we'd have something like ninety refurbished houses per each homeless citizen. Instead we took our wealth gap and created a monster.

We are pretty much caught in the ages like the slave trade, except we are persecuted for our disorder not our ethnicity, and the same rules apply because we are different to everyone else, but I think today the ethnic population aren't as judged as they were lets say 50 years ago, but there are still racial slurs still thrown about, just people are more tolerant of them.

As our condition had only been discovered in the early 20th century, i'd say it probably take a couple hundred years for everyone to fully integrate us into society. It really depends on how severe your condition is, if you are high functioning like I am, then any country would be bad for autism awareness, but some developed countries cater for those who can't carry out basic needs.