Autistic Boy’s Birthday Wish Granted by Thousands of New Friends

This story ( https://www.cbsnews.com/news/boy-autism-friends-wish-53k-messages/ ) about Daniel, an autistic boy from Nottingham, England, really warmed my heart. Daniel said he had two wishes for his 15th birthday: to drive a car and to make some friends. His father shared Daniel's wishes on his social media and explained that Daniel had no friends but wanted some. This posting became the number one trending topic on Twitter in the US and thousands of people wanted to be his friend. Even Mark Hamill (of 'Star Wars') and other movie stars sent their birthday wishes to Daniel.

To me, even as a 'neurotypical' teenager, I could empathize with Daniel's situation: everyone (especially us teenagers, I suppose) wants more friends and to be liked. So it's understandable that Daniel's story resonated with so many people.

What's particularly interesting to me is that autistic people are often seen as not wanting or needing friends because having difficulty with social interactions is a key characteristic of being autistic. Yet I think we need to separate not being good at making friends with not wanting to make friends. I see with my own brother And that even though he lacks the social or verbal skills to interact and communicate with others, he clearly recognizes his classmates and is visibly happy and smiley when he sees them, especially after a long break. He may express this differently from most of us who are not autistic-- for example, by touching his classmates or smelling their hair-- but I can definitely sense a desire in him for connecting with other people that are meaningful to him.

Daniel's story also raises the important question of whether we as a society are providing the right social provisions for autistic people. While most governments understand there is a need to provide basic healthcare and education to everyone, it's not as obvious that these fundamental needs include provisions to improve autistic people's social well-being. Perhaps we need better funding to create a non-threatening environment for autistic people to use as a kind of community center, where volunteers could provide social interaction by playing games and sports or music.

This story of course certainly confirms the power of social media. It’s also reassuring that the internet can be used for good and not just for creating an ‘echo chamber’ for amplifying polarized hateful messages as Facebook and other platforms have (I believe) rightly been accused of doing.