Last week I was in Walmart with my son. As we waited in line to check out I was noticing the amount of people wearing facial masks and thinking, ”I really miss seeing people’s smiles, I can’t tell if how they are feeling with their face under a mask.”
And then it hit me.
This is how my son has viewed the world.
You see, my son experiences autism, and during his almost 14 years we have had to very specifically teach him each facial expression and what it means. And he still isn’t very good at it. By looking at your facial expression he struggles to know if you are happy, sad, excited, or mad. Those cues- a smile, a frown, and all those other micro facial expressions don’t register for many people who experience autism.
Perhaps you have seen the masks that allow those who read lips to still see the person’s mouth? It’s a fabulous idea, but even more than that, it’s necessary for people who have to read lips to be fully involved in their medical treatment at this time. But it is just as important for those who struggle to read facial expressions and social cues. They need every bit of information they can gleen about this strange world.
If wearing masks is going to be the new normal, we need to remember that not everyone accesses the world in the same way. If we must change, we need to change in a manner that allows people to keep up.
Otherwise, those hours, those years we spent in speech and occupational therapy? It will be wasted, and the longer this goes on, the harder it will be for people like my son to practice their skills and keep them up.
It’s not a big, ”It’s going to save their lives thing.”
But it IS a, “It’s going to change their lives thing.”
