Call Me Different Not Difficult Summary

John Robison the author of “Call Me Different, Not Difficult,” has autism and lived most of his life with his condition undiagnosed. In the article Robison shares his personal experiences as well as his sons to convey the struggles students with autism face. Robinson enlightens the reader that not all teachers are capable of teaching students with autism. One must be understanding in order to have patience to accept the difference students with autism have. Those with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) see the world in a diverse way; teachers and adults need to recognize this. Robison gives examples of his childhood where he misinterpreted information from others including social cues, as well as instructions. He was in these situations punished either socially or academically.
For adults to minimize this miscommunication Robinson states six guidelines for teacher to better help and understand students with ASD.

One weakness being its strength; that there is no real scientific evidence cited. The article is purely emotional based, this leads to a better understanding but the information is also bias. To have an effective and accepted article it needs to have some proven evidence. With Robinson’s article’s information being purely through experience one could argue that these skills and rules he has outlined cannot be assumed effective on students with ASD as a whole but only those he has observed. Robison states repeatedly that those with ASD have a very hard time reading social cues including body language. Nonverbal communication such as body language and tone of voice make up 93% of communication according to Yaffe. Is it possible for those with ASD to learn to understand nonverbal communication, and use these skills to better overall communication? If a person can learn the symptoms to an illness and be able to diagnosis it can a person with ASD learn the “symptoms” to nonverbal