Sometimes It Ain't Pretty
As I'm sure you've noticed, I try to remain very positive in these posts but sometimes it helps just to say that autism stinks.
It stinks when people stare, it stinks that you have to ask your child 14 times what they want to eat before you might get an answer (and that's for those of us lucky enough to have children who speak), it stinks when you have to clean up poop from the steps where the one potty-training decided to wipe his rear when you didn't change his Pull-ups fast enough (of course, again, that's for those of us lucky to have one who is actually potty-training.) Autism is not a "mental illness," as I've heard it described recently, it is a condition that affects the communications system in the brain, and yes, that stinks too. "Mental illness" always sounds like something most patients can recover from or take medication for-- no such luck with autism.
It stinks that we won't know how our kids will do as adults in this big bad world until we're there. Until then, every morning, I will wake up and pray that the autism doesn't stink as much today as it did yesterday and that I get a little piece of hope thrown my way to encourage me.
It stinks when people stare, it stinks that you have to ask your child 14 times what they want to eat before you might get an answer (and that's for those of us lucky enough to have children who speak), it stinks when you have to clean up poop from the steps where the one potty-training decided to wipe his rear when you didn't change his Pull-ups fast enough (of course, again, that's for those of us lucky to have one who is actually potty-training.) Autism is not a "mental illness," as I've heard it described recently, it is a condition that affects the communications system in the brain, and yes, that stinks too. "Mental illness" always sounds like something most patients can recover from or take medication for-- no such luck with autism.
It stinks that we won't know how our kids will do as adults in this big bad world until we're there. Until then, every morning, I will wake up and pray that the autism doesn't stink as much today as it did yesterday and that I get a little piece of hope thrown my way to encourage me.
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