The United Nations has decided to make April 2 World Autism Day...starting this year 2008. All day long we will see pieces on Autism. We will see families struggling for services and education. We will see Jenny McCarthy, yet again, telling us about her knowledge about Autism and "curing", "recovering", "almost curing" her son....maybe she will make up her mind this time. She will go head-to-head with prominent doctors about vaccines and Autism...now that will be worth watching.
We will see Larry King massacre the pronunciation of Autism...
We will see families with multiple children saying how difficult their lives are by having so many children with Autism. We will see meltdowns and temper tantrums. We will see tears flowing from the faces of parent's who envisioned a better future for their children.
What we won't see is children and adults with Autism actually thriving in our communities. You won't see that there are children getting better and thriving every day. You won't see promotions for amazing programs out there that are seeing results from Sensory Integration Therapies and Play Therapies.
You won't see children with Autism who can go to school, sit quietly and respectfully in a classroom, because they have been inclusioned since 5 years old. You won't see parent's who have worked hard with their children and not allowed inappropriate behaviors in public....
Instead, we are going to be subjected to the "gloom and doom" bias of Autism. The Autism that requires a parent to slap a tee shirt on their child and blame their Autism for their behaviors. It is much easier not to parent that way. We are going to get to see mothers and fathers crying about the child they were supposed to have, instead of the glory of the child who is sitting right in front of them.
I think I will celebrate WORLD AUTISM DAY in our home. I will remind my children to be on their best behaviors today...because the WORLD is watching them. I will let them know they are the most wonderful, amazing children in the WORLD and I am so very proud to be their Mother. I will make sure their day...WORLD AUTISM DAY...is celebrated with joy and happiness in our home. Heck, maybe I will even bake a cake for this occasion.
So, I better get started, it is already 6:30 am and WORLD AUTISM DAY has already begun....
UPDATE:
I found this amazing piece on CNN about a young man, living in the community....with Autism.
Thank you Dr. Gupta.
http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/health/2008/03/31/gupta.adult.autism.cnn
About Me
- Mom26children
- I am the proud mother of 6 children. 5 of our children have autism. We do not feel our world has ended, but just begun. We do not chelate, intervene biochemically, give shots of any kind, practice ABA, etc. We treat them as we treat any humanbeing. We treat them with kindness and respect and expect the same from them. They are exceptional children.
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
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21 comments:
I was very happy to see that CNN took the time to have a whole section of their website devoted to Autism today. I was even happier to discover that most of the stories seem very well-rounded (ie, not one-sided) and that they have included HAPPY stories and HAPPY endings, like ours. Actually, ours is a happy beginning...
I'm going to be celebrating (yes, celebrating!) my kiddo and spending time with him doing fun things today.
It isn't just World Autism Day for me, it's Alex Day. Alex is not autism. He's Alex - a loving, happy and fun loving kid. How could you not celebrate that!? :-)
(You're making cake....I'm baking cookies! Whoo!)
I truly try to ignore the rest of the world when it comes to Autism propaganda. We just do our own thing... and as my Family Support Worker said yesterday... it must be working b/c they are thriving and exceeding everyone's expectations.
Enjoy your cake.... I have to go to one of those really dull "do's" tonight.... YAWN!!!!!
I read something once about how having a child with autism is like planning a trip to Italy and the plane ending up in Holland; not quite what you were expecting but just as beautiful and exciting. I am happy when I see people celebrating life instead of cursing it especially when it comes to autism. That's not to say I don't think there are practices and therapies that can be extremely helpful but it's nice to see people who see their children first, autism second.
Marie
abcnews.com just ran a story on students with aspergers in college.. the line I liked was
"The collegial support is teaching a whole new generation of students how to fly on their own."
I was worried too, that a day of televised Autism Awareness would be more tragedy than triumph. Glad to hear They are also covering positive stories!
Although I think we will see a lot of doom and gloom stories I think that there will be plenty of good ones too. People are finally starting to share their success with autism.
I know, I was totally wrong about today.
I am so very happy to see all of the positive comments about Autism.
Now, lets just see how Jenny ruins this on Larry King tonight for me.
Jeanette
"We will see tears flowing from the faces of parent's who envisioned a better future for their children."
I'd like to suggest a minor revision to that line, something along the lines of: "We will see tears flowing from the faces of parent's who envisioned a better future for themselves, with the children they wanted, instead of the ones they got."
Otherwise ... yeah. The most important button on my TV is the "OFF" button.
Oh. You covered that already. Okay.
"Nevermind."
:-D
Cake--yummy! I was smiling tonight as we had a fun time at the dinner table, thinking THIS is what today is all about. Glad to see some positive stories. Could have done without Jenny on Larry King (that's putting it nicely!).
I kept the TV off yesterday, as my observance of World Autism Day. So glad to hear that there was some positive coverage in the media. Every day in our family we are so happy with our little autistic son and those "awareness" stories usually end up making me so mad. Where is all the awareness about ASD people who are happily part of their families and communities? Maybe I'll check out next year's coverage, since you're all saying that there was something worthwhile to watch. :)
All I learned is Lou Dobbs is an asshole who first called autism a disease, then after a few commercial breaks referred to it as "an ugly, ugly, ugly, ugly thing" that parents must deal with.
I hate all these idiots.
Oh, and then over on Autism Speaks Forum, livsparents is wondering who Ari Ne'eman is, which cracks me up. Ari is on my Facebook friends list and ole wild Bill doesn't even know who he is, yet I have been lucky enough to e-know this eloquent young man for two + years now. Maybe if he would quit harping on the whys and focus on the positives of autism, Bill would finally get it. Probably not. Much easier to feel sorry for yourself and your kids than to feel empowered and proud of someone like Ari.
Ari has more intelligence and grace than most of us could dream of--and he is autistic, yet some jackass like Lou Dobbs would only see ugliness. WTF?
Is it really necessary to use profanity? I come to this site because of the lack of nastiness and would hate to see it turn into garbage.
Marie
test post :)
Marie-
Sorry to offend your delicate sensibilities.
BTW--the word "ass" appears in the Bible. Don't read that if the word ass offends...
I was under the impression that this site was respectful but obviously not all people who decide to post comments are under the same impression.
Marie
I was under the impression that this site was respectful but obviously not all people who decide to post comments are under the same impression.
So sorry, Marie.
Hey. When I look down my nose at something, my eyes go all crossed. Does that happen to you?
You rock. i know I've read this a little late, but I agree with everything you say! I love my kid with Autism!
I didn't get to watch very much of CNN on World Autism Day, but the little I did see seemed to have a more positive tone. The coverage seemed to be more informational rather than emotional (though there were the few lead-ins and story endings that used terms like "heartbreaking" and "sad").
Dr. Gupta's video of Bob Esposito was great! I can't wait to see what kind of job my boy is going to have some day! He tells me he wants to open a video store.. he might be behind the technology curve on that one!
First off, I have to say, I love your red glasses! But on a serious note, kudos to you for voicing the opinions of the overlooked and forgotten that are living with autism. Some of us are living with joy and not wallowing in what could have been. I commend you for having the courage to speak out. Our children are individuals with autism...they should not be defined by or limited by their autism. How can we expect the world to see their may gifts, talents and the value of their different (not wrong) perspective, when we as their parents don't even see it? It's time that people with the most experience with autism start speaking up about the triumphs, joys and every day blessings of having this different way of being. For starters, it would be great to have at least one person displayed on Autism Speaks Walk website that's walking cause they have autism. I have to believe there's at least one person with autism who is walking that could speak for themselves. After all, isn't that what we ultimately want for all our children? For them to live a full, independent life where they can speak for themselves?!
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