Autism Awareness

Apparently today is Autism Awareness Day?  At least according to our office manager, who also has an autistic son.  And apparently you are also suppose to wear blue in support of autism awareness and everyone got the memo except me because I’m just suppose to somehow know all there is to know in regards to activism and autism.


Well I don’t.  And I don’t plan to.   I saw someone posted on facebook yesterday that it was autism awareness month.  I ‘liked’ the post but did not bother reposting.  I simply do not feel compelled to be sunk in and wrapped up in autism activism.  There are many causes that I do get involved like that with but it has to come as a want from within not because I am feeling pressured to do so.   And choosing not to do so does NOT mean that I do not care about my child.

Wearing a specific colour on a specific date of the year does not help our son.   It may in fact stress him and he may not be able to express that because he has trouble expressing himself when things he does not understand affect him.  I do not own a blue shirt so seeing me wear a blue shirt will likely confuse him.  He likes routine and stability.  I own a grand total of about 7 tops, all within the same colour scheme, and that is as routine and as stable as he needs.

Posting endless links about autism does not help our son.   It will likely end up frustrating all my fb friends because their feeds will be overrun and spammed with my autism links and will lead them to hate my son for causing their feeds to be spammed.  Because unless you are dealing with an autistic child on a regular basis you really have no need for 500 articles on autism.

Participating in "The Walk" (whatever that is, it’s been the only thing being talked about in the office for weeks for the manager’s son) will not help our son.  Based on the pictures I have seen from the office’s previous years, this will likely stress my son a whole lot. He does not do well with lots of people and he definitely does not do well going somewhere without an end result (a walk around the block ends in a complete meltdown...) so simply walking around with masses of people is going to freak him out!

Wearing a ribbon will not help our son.  Most people will have no idea what it is for and will most likely not ask because it’s just the way people are around here.   Few may know what it is for and if they already know then what am I really making them aware of...

Raising money for autism research will not help our son.  My child is high functioning and at this point finding out the what and whys really don’t mean anything to us.   And that doesn’t mean that other children don’t deserve to benefit from on-going research but we have other causes that are closer to us to help raise money for.

 No one should try to make me feel like a bad parent for not jumping on the autism bandwagon. I don’t see myself as a parent of an autistic child.   I see myself as a parent who’s child happens to have autism.  He also has allergies and kitties and flowers result in the need for Claritin.   For my child and our family, they are both the same.  They have triggers and we can’t always avoid the triggers so when it shows up we deal.

I am aware of autism, was aware of autism long before I was even able to conceive, and everyone who is significant in our son's life is also fully aware of autism.  We really don't feel the need to make others aware in the month of April and will spread awareness on a case by case basis to those who show interest in wanting to know more.  My goal in life is not to make the world aware of autism, it is to help our son grow up and be the best he can be.

Don’t get me wrong, there is absolutely nothing wrong with people that want to post a million links and wear the ribbons and do the walks for anything that is important to them.   But there is also nothing wrong with people that chose to not do so even if it is important to them.  It doesn’t mean a cause isn’t important or doesn’t affect them and it doesn’t mean they do not care or do not support someone living with whatever the cause is for, whether it be autism or cancer or veterans or animal rights.


No one proves this point better than one of my all time favourite college professor: