Autism in Our House

I submitted this to Parenting for their autism essay contest but didn't make the cut. So I decided it was their loss and I would post it here for y'all to read.

Autism in our house is just that autism.  Two of our four children have moderate autism one has ADHD and the baby of the family is a mild hemophiliac.  SO Autism is just something else thrown in the equation.  It’s not a bad thing, in fact it make the kids who they are.  If you wanted to take away their autism my husband and I would say No thank you we are fine.  The one thing about autism we would love to change is the social stigma attached to it.

When a child is diagnosed the doctors throw them to the wolves so to speak in a confusing world of therapies and views that would make anyone’s head spin.  Once we took a step back and looked at the big picture, we threw all therapies out the window.  They were not for us.  What people wanted to change we saw no reason to change.  SO my fourteen year old son paces alongside my cart at the store, he’s not bothering anyone it makes him feel better, leave it alone.  All the therapies were doing were trying to change what bothered other people.  They were not allowing him to be him. 

We as a society are told by large organizations that autism is bad. Autism is evil. Autism steals children. Autism must be eradicated.  Well in our house Autism is beautiful. Autism is part of you. Autism helps you think outside of the box.  Autism did not steal my children. Autism is celebrated in our house.

In short autism in our house is just another day like any other.  Autism does not define our family, we define autism.  My children will have relationships, go to college, get married, and have children, if that’s what they want.