Monday 1 April 2013

RJ Scott's April Blog Tour for Autism Awareness




A fact about Autism: 
Autism costs a family $60,000 a year on average

The topic of this years blog tour is PREJUDICE.

When I see the word prejudice the things that come to my mind are the larger social issues like race, sex, and sexual orientation. These are things I would never claim to have any prejudice toward. I see variety and gender and love, and I don't see how anyone can have a problem with that. My friend having a girlfriend makes no difference to how I live my life or view my relationship with my husband. Another friend falling in love with and marrying a guy from India didn't leave me thinking the sky was going to fall. On the large scale, I don't think about it. However, I have to confess that in some ways I guess I can and have been prejudice and I think we all can be, often without even thinking.

Two examples - A hard habit to break:

* The way someone looks, speaks or acts. Most of us are guilty of prejudging a person from a look or the minute they open their mouth. Films and TV shows will often reflect these stereotypes - the ditzy blonde, the OTT special needs guy, the crazy religious nut, the 'no way he's passing for a girl' transvestite - and we laugh. It's not meant in a bad way, but we do laugh. Reality shows about certain groups within society also do nothing to overcome the preconceived ideas about people. In the UK there are so many shows about different class groups in society - the posh ones are OTT posh, eccentric, frivolous, and ridiculous, the people living on estates are shown as out of work, large families and everybody's on benefits. It does nothing to change those ingrained prejudices.