Communicating With Those Who Have Autism: A Reminder for Healthcare Professionals

Though she was extremely grateful for the quality medical care she received, she wanted to share with healthcare professionals her experience as a patient with autism. Though she realizes that the doctors and nurses were doing their very best in a busy emergency room, she wanted to help them understand how to best treat their next patient who was in the same situation.

There are many inaccurate assumptions about people with autism online.

First, Sharon noticed that most people don’t really know how to care for a sick person who also has autism. When she looked online, she realized that there are a lot of incorrect assumptions made about autistic people. For one, they are constantly treated like they are in the middle of a mental breakdown. Secondly, it was almost always assumed that all people with autism could not make their own health care decisions.

Sharon shares some tips for healthcare professionals.

That’s when Sharon realized she needed to do something. She decided to write to the online community and share what she thought was best practice when caring for people with autism. The following are some things we learned from Sharon’s advice.