A MOTHER'S DAY....

To some mother's, Mother's Day is waking up in their bed with a tray of freshly made muffins and coffee. On that tray, is a beautiful long-stemmed rose with a Sunday newspaper. This lucky mother is allowed to sit in bed and gingerly read the paper...possibly even allowed to complete the very large Sunday crossword puzzle.
Okay, back to reality.....
I awoke on this Mother's Day to a mess of grated cheese on the floor.....coffee spilled on my counter.....pillow cushions thrown off the couch.....

I realize that some of my fans...the anonymous blog readers....accuse me of being negative about my children. I can assure you, when I write about my children, not one negative thought enters my head. What I write about is the reality of raising 6 children, 5 of whom happen to have been diagnosed with autism.

I have been given a huge responsibility to raise these amazing, gifted children. I have been chosen, so to speak, to make sure these children get the same chances any child in the world should have. My goal is to let my children know they can be whatever they want to be in life and no one or nothing can stop that.
I have the responsibility to teach society that my children belong as much as anyone on this planet and they cannot stop them from achieving any goal they choose to have.
My children have lofty dreams. I assume they get that from me. After all, I was going to marry David Cassidy and John Travolta at one point in my life.

I wake up every morning to 6 beautiful and gifted children....I still am in awe of each and every one of them. They each bring so much to me and our family. They are individually extraordinary, but together, they are magic.

As they grow up and start realizing their own dreams, I will be there to make sure they can achieve their dreams. There is absolutely nothing they cannot accomplish. I have tried very hard to make sure they are aware of this. That has been my job every day....but, it is even more sweet on Mother's Day.

AUTISM: PURE & SIMPLE

Those that know me are aware that I am a very proud person. I am not brilliant, but by no means am I stupid. I do, after all, hold a high school graduation diploma from Pflugerville High School, class of 1978. I was not the valedictorian, but I was not the bottom of the class of 80 students..
My point...yes, I have a point.
I have been trying, for almost a year now, to keep up with all the scientific mumbo-jumgo on the autism forums. I am now officially giving up on trying to figure out what these parent's of autistic children are fighting about while trying to figure autism out.
I am going to stick with parent's forums who give advice...I mean sound advice on parenting autistic children. Not what supplements to give, or how much DMSA, B12, etc. This conversation has just become to damn depressing for me.
I have better things to do...such as raise the best children I can.
I have no reason to read about the causes or curations of autistic children. After all, I do not do biomedical interventions on my children, so why am I there? Just to get my blood boiling, I assume.
I will let the parent's of these children try to figure out, on their own, what they are looking for.
I have already found the peace I am looking for. I have had 16 years to figure this out.

Autism is not difficult.
Autism is not a disease, but a disorder.
Autistic people do not need to conform to society, but Society needs to conform to Autistic people.
Adult Autistic people need to know they have a purpose in this world. They need to know that we accept them. They need to know that we cannot function without their brilliance and beauty.
Whether they are scientists, artists, math geniouses, parent's , siblings, students or anything else they choose to be.
Autistic adults will be a vital part of our future....I hope that society wakes up and accepts this.
I know, in our house, we did this a long time ago......

Autistic people are truthful, non-judmental, caring, loving, smart, artistic and genuine people.
They expect no more from anyone than what they give..and believe me, they give much more than they receive.
Autistic adults want one thing, They want to belong....PURE AND SIMPLE.