Friday, June 17, 2011

A question I was asked

"why don't you blog about your son's autism more?"

You know, I've thought about his. A lot. I have TONS of drafts about him and his autism. I've read lots of mommy blogs who deal with autism. I live in this world DAILY. Yet I don't share it with the outside world.

 He was my first born, so I've had nothing to compare him to. So to me, there's nothing different about him.  I don't think of it as an affliction, at all. I think of it as a hall pass. An awesome hall pass to get into amazing schools, get special attention, get a leg up with all these and have a doctors note.

I think every child has special needs. EVERY ONE. My daughter, doesn't have autism, is she higher maintenance than her brother? Ummmmmm, YES. I have more trouble with her than him.  A lot of people say "well he doesn't look like he has it".   And what exactly would that look like? Because he DOES flap his hands, he DOES stare out into space and he DOES walk on his toes. But he doesn't do that stuff all the time. There are triggers for those things.  Or this one "he seems normal to me". He is normal. Very normal.  The difference between him and everyone else his how his brain processes information. That's it. So no, you wouldn't see that. You couldn't tell he was autistic upon meeting him right away.

Since he is higher functioning people say "are you sure he doesn't have aspergers?" Yes. I'm sure. He has his own autism. It can't be compared to anyone else's. Yeah there will be similarities with others, but ultimately, it's his own.

We have "autism" issues every day, but I also call that "life". Shit happens, you do what you can, then you move on. Simple. Blogging every day about autism, for me, would be like  blogging every day about watering my plants: unnecessary.

I know some people have it harder than me, some people have it easier than me. But what it comes down to is raising my children. You deal with each child differently. They have their strengths, they have their weaknesses. That's why I blog about being a mom. Raising my crazy kids, running my household....blah blah blah.

Autism doesn't define us. It is not an elephant in the room. It is not a road block. It is LIFE. And that is what I choose to blog about.

5 comments:

  1. Great post!!! We too are a diverse family dealing with special needs. I write about it as part of our life, not our whole life. I think you said it perfectly!! Thank you!!!

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  2. I love your perspective. Fabulous post! Now we should get back to examining your wine bar!

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  3. Bravo! I actually followed you over from Motherhood (Oh & Everything Else) because your comment on her 1...2...3 post just about made my drink come out my nose, I laughed so suddenly. This was a very different perspective on life than that comment (grin), but so, so very good.

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  4. Lisa I could not agree more each child has special needs EACH one. We all have "isums" or different ways of seeing the world and I say bring it on cuss it makes us better people!

    LOVE THIS POST but dont' I love them all :)
    HUGS

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  5. @therealhousewifeofoxfordcounty
    Well.... i suppose i appreciate your honesty. can't please them all right?

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Thoughts?