Autism and need for awareness

Autism-a social disorder,whose cause is still not known,is largely misunderstood as type of mental retardation.In a recent interaction with one of my friend,who keenly watched AAPKI ANTARA,the t.v serial who has a autistic protagonist,even thought that it is a illness in which there is lack of mental growth.In the beginning I too had followed the serial quite keenly but when it started going off-track, I even stopped viewing it.Anyways,thats not the topic of discussion here.What I want to emphasize upon is need of high level of awareness regarding autism.There is general lack of awareness about it.Even in a city like Pune,which is hub of educational institutions,the awareness is poor.I still remember,hardly two months back,when I was desperately looking for a job,and was having talk with the Head of a very famous N.G.O,(I won't name it)when I mentioned that I preferred a particular time slot,as my son had mild autism and I didnt want to compromise my time with him,her first reaction was" excuse me,what is that,never heard of it."I was shocked,then faintly amused.I immediately pointed out to her that she should be aware of it as a must,since she was working for the welfare of the underprivileged.Even I realized while telling her that when the so called literate people haven't heard of it,then how will the poor people even know about it.Who knows how many autistic people must be suffering just because of lack of knowledge about it n without proper diagnosis.
Even amongst my community members,I came across a class xi th student who wanted to know if there was a school for the autistic in her city,a state capital.Her younger sister who is 14 yrs old is autistic n has never undergone any kind of therapy or schooling.People when don't even know what is autism,how can we even expect them to realize the importance of speech therapy etc for ensuring a qualitative life for the affected person.
Because of lack of awareness,there is a kind of social stigma attached to the autistic people n their family.I am member of a community of mothers of autism affected children and recently there was a suggestion by one of the mother that we should share our experiences so that we can learn few valuable lesson from it.Even I think,every autistic person is a case study in himself/herself.what works for one,may or may not work for the other.I initiated the discussion by sharing what I had undergone.But except for me and the other lady who had given the suggestion,no one else has come forwward to share her experiences,though a fortnight has passed.
I will keep sharing my views and experiences with a hope that it will schuffle a few feathers at least.:-)