April is considered as Autism Acceptance Month and Apple is doing its part with an ad about about a boy named Dillan Barmache using the iPad to communicate with people.
"All my life I wanted so badly to connect with people. But they couldn't understand because I had no way to communicate," the iPad's robotic voice says, reading Dillan's typed words.
"So many people can't understand that I have a mind. All they see is a person who is not in control. But now you can hear me. The iPad helps me to see not only my words, but to hold onto my thoughts," he writes.
In a film released by Apple, therapist Deborah Spengler and Dillan's mom Tami Barmache describe what learning to live around a non-verbal autistic teen is like.
"If you're just going off of what you see on the outside," says Tami Barmache, "the assumption is often that there's a lack of intelligence."
She says of her 16-year-old son: "Not being able to speak isn't the same as not having something to say."
Dillan types to communicate. Software on his iPad translates his typing into words.
This helps him tell the world what he's feeling. What he's feeling isn't always good. He describes autism and "lonely" and "hell."
In 2014, Dillan gave a graduation speech at school. He clearly strives every day to live and to communicate.
Autism statistics from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) identify around 1 in 68 American children as on the autism spectrum–a ten-fold increase in prevalence in 40 years.
Careful research shows that the increase is only partly explained by improved diagnosis and awareness. Studies also show that autism is four to five times more common among boys than girls. An estimated 1 out of 42 boys and 1 in 189 girls are diagnosed with autism in the United States.
ASD affects over 3 million individuals in the U.S. and tens of millions worldwide. Moreover, government autism statistics suggest that prevalence rates have increased 10 to 17 percent annually in recent years. There is no established explanation for this continuing increase, although improved diagnosis and environmental influences are two reasons often considered.
"All my life I wanted so badly to connect with people. But they couldn't understand because I had no way to communicate," the iPad's robotic voice says, reading Dillan's typed words.
"So many people can't understand that I have a mind. All they see is a person who is not in control. But now you can hear me. The iPad helps me to see not only my words, but to hold onto my thoughts," he writes.
In a film released by Apple, therapist Deborah Spengler and Dillan's mom Tami Barmache describe what learning to live around a non-verbal autistic teen is like.
"If you're just going off of what you see on the outside," says Tami Barmache, "the assumption is often that there's a lack of intelligence."
She says of her 16-year-old son: "Not being able to speak isn't the same as not having something to say."
Dillan types to communicate. Software on his iPad translates his typing into words.
This helps him tell the world what he's feeling. What he's feeling isn't always good. He describes autism and "lonely" and "hell."
In 2014, Dillan gave a graduation speech at school. He clearly strives every day to live and to communicate.
Autism statistics from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) identify around 1 in 68 American children as on the autism spectrum–a ten-fold increase in prevalence in 40 years.
Careful research shows that the increase is only partly explained by improved diagnosis and awareness. Studies also show that autism is four to five times more common among boys than girls. An estimated 1 out of 42 boys and 1 in 189 girls are diagnosed with autism in the United States.
ASD affects over 3 million individuals in the U.S. and tens of millions worldwide. Moreover, government autism statistics suggest that prevalence rates have increased 10 to 17 percent annually in recent years. There is no established explanation for this continuing increase, although improved diagnosis and environmental influences are two reasons often considered.
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