This is the first day of my Autism Awareness Month Blog-a-thon. I'm officially committing to 30 blog posts in  30 days. This means I am already a day behind so gonna have to find a day to post twice. All encouragement from readers is welcome.

I've read some conflicting opinions about Autism Awareness Month which I will probably explore as days go by. Would autism acceptance month be better? People who have autism seem to believe so. I'm thinking awareness has to be present before acceptance though. Lots to ponder here but not today.

For today, I am reminded of  how far, as a society, we have come. I would like to share some tidbits from  my autism journey.

I have been connected to autism since the age of 16 months. I was just a toddler when my brother Philip was born and I don't remember anything about that time in my/his life. I don't know how my parents felt when they first realized Philip was not developing typically.  There wasn't much known about this mysterious thing called autism. Medical professionals told parents to institutionalize their children for the sake of their other children, so the child wouldn't get too attached to the parents (pretty bizarre!), and so professionals who knew what they were doing could take over in teaching/caring for the child, and to take the burden off the parents.  I don't think they really knew how to advise parents to help their children.

I can't imagine what it felt like to be told to institutionalize your child! ESPECIALLY, given what institutions were like back then. My heart hurts just thinking about it. You had to be tough as nails (like Temple Grandin's mom) not to take this advice and to keep your child, who was very difficult to manage, at home. Back then, you didn't question or argue with "professionals".

Having a child like my brother Philip in the 60's was a hush hush affair. Even I didn't know  why my brother did not talk or play, what he had, or why he didn't live at home. I have very few memories of my brother in our house because he did not live at home past when I was about 6. We visited him in various places for short amounts of time. That is my only childhood memory of my brother. We did not talk about him very much and my parents went about their job of creating a "normal" life for me. I don't remember even hearing the word autism until I was a teenager. My brother was on the low end of the autism spectrum so it wasn't because he was diagnosed later on. People just didn't talk openly about these things back then. OR at least my family didn't.

The refrigerator mother theory of autism  was still being tossed around.  This theory said that autism was due to cold mothering. It was a psychosis. What a heavy emotional load for a mother to carry around! I cannot begin to imagine the pain my mother endured. There was no one my mother could talk to or get support from. Neighbors were sometimes cruel. Even I was aware of that.

My mother never really recovered from the anguish of having my brother. When Philip was a  teen my dad stepped up and moved him to Arizona to live in another institution. We had moved from NY a couple of years before. My dad was the one who took care of everything. When he was dying, he had appointed my mother as guardian, or if she refused to serve, he appointed me. I have been guardian for Philip since 1995.

I am grateful my own son Kyle was born in the 80's and not in the 60's.

Yesterday I was an exhibitor at the Tucson Autism Walk. There was a happy energy flowing through the crowd. It was great to see children of all ages and degrees of autism walking with their families. I talked to many parents who were dealing with the intense challenges of raising a child who is so different and has so many special needs. I was grateful to be able to share the wisdom I have accumulated on this journey by offering my books. And, most importantly, by sharing a few words of support and encouragement from someone walking  a similar walk.

Today, I am grateful to be standing here in  2012 with heightened autism awareness which hopefully will lead to more autism acceptance in times to come.

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written by glashutte replica, September 15, 2012

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