I'm still not finished writing my resignation post. It is quite difficult to take serious, raw emotions, and write them in the most neutral way possible. I am still writing it, and will post it when I'm finished.
In the mean time, I have been reading autism blogs. Not the ones written by angry parents, by the ones written by adults who have autism. In no way have I acually been able to read all of the blogs with autistic authors, but I do think I have a fairly good sample of what is out there.
Most people in this world only hear about how devastating autism is, and how it destroyed their family and robbed them of their sweet innocent little child. I have an autistic child, and I don't share those feelings. He was one of the 25% of autistic children who actually regressed. He did so when I went to college all those years ago.
I read Joseph's blog, and followed the link to research papers that opened my eyes to things I hadn't thought of before. For instance, I didn't know that family stressors were cited by parents far mor often than any other factor.
Know something funny? Suzanne Wright, in her interview on The View, explains that her daughter and son in law had just purchased a new home, and were expecting a new baby when their son was diagnosed with autism. So no wonder they were so angry with autism. They had a perfect little life planned out for themselves, and boom! Their kid has a disability. I wonder what would have been different if their child had been born with Downe's Syndrome? The stigma? The knowledge that they can't cure Downe's syndrom? The fact that the Downe's syndrom community advocates for acceptence? Hmmm. Ok, so this is an angry parent, but it isn't a blog, it is the Autism Speaks chairfamily!
Anyway, if you are interested in knowing what really happens to autistic kids, read the blogs of autistic audults. Who would know better than they? (They were kids once too!) Autism Diva was the first ASD adult blog I found. She is quite articulate and very politically active. Joel is an autistic adult who holds a full time job and advocates for the civil rights of Autistics. He also has a web site that is quite intersting and informative. Check it out.
Another really good source for see autism for what it really is and not as what the poor little autism parents you hear so much about say it is, check out the autism hub. It might be a real eye opener!
Painting the Kurbmaster
3 hours ago
I think many of us have a misconception of autism and how it really manifests. I know I generally picture someone who doesn't hardly communicate with the world at all. I think the media of all kinds show us the most extreme cases and don't reference them as such.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you found information that was helpful to you, even at this stage of things. That was what the internet was supposed to be for in the first place.