With World Autism Awareness Day celebrated on Monday, April 2, this year’s theme is ‘everybody has different wavelengths.’

It is a message which resonates with Launceston’s Kristen Desmond, whose three children are all on the autism spectrum.

She said more needed to be done to break down the stigma of the condition within the community.

“There are still some people who see difference as a deficit, but it is not,” she said.

“People often ask me what the most difficult part of my kids’ diagnosis was, and for me, it was explaining to other people that it did not change who they were.

“It’s a label that seems to carry a certain expectation, but it’s the same child it was before.”

The characteristics of autism were explored in a seminar at Newstead last month.

Autism Tasmania’s Understanding Challenging Behaviour forum focused on the impact autism has on everyday life, while also investigating the underlying reasons for challenging behaviours.

A former senior vice president of Autism Tasmania, Mrs Desmond said part of understanding autism was individualising the condition.

“There is a saying that if you’ve met one person with autism, you’ve met one person with autism,” she said.

“As a mother of three children with autism, I definitely agree, because mine are very different to one another.

“My kids know they have autism and one of the things I have talked about with them is it is a condition they have, but it is not who they are.

“At the end of the day, they want to succeed and enjoy their life like everybody else.”

Portrayals of autism regularly feature across various mediums, with the condition forming the basis for television shows such as The Good Doctor and Atypical.

While the shows were designed to explore the condition, Mrs Desmond said a lack of authenticity was too common among the representations.

“I’d like to see more characters actually played by actors who have autism,” she said.

“It would broaden what the characters are like, because right now there are still those still those stereotypical views of people on the spectrum.”

Kristen Desmond is the founder of the Tasmanian Disability Education Reform Lobby.

Autism Tasmania will hold its annual barbecue on Saturday, April 7 at the Door of Hope in Launceston.

Entry is a gold coin donation.