I should be working on the schedule this morning, but instead I am cuddling my very sick little girl (who loves when she gets to be in Momma’s cozy bed, even if it means she’s sick) and entertaining myself by reading blogs. I’m confident I will meet the schedule deadline later this week, but right now my baby needs me. And I needed this:
One of my favorite blogs, Pacing The Panic Room, just posted this piece about a young girl named Carly Fleischmann from Canada, and I was instantly charmed by her.
One of my dearest friends has a 15 year old son, Caleb, with autism. I have always admired her strength and determination when it comes to caring for him and finding new ways to connect with him. I know that it is easier to assume that there is nothing beyond what is visible to the eye, that there is no cognitive awareness behind the flapping arms and the incomprehensible squeals. But maybe, just maybe, there is a functioning spirit trapped in that poorly functioning body. A person who cannot make their body communicate in the way they want to. I cannot imagine a more terrible thing than being a prisoner inside your own body.
I think it’s time we started to become more aware of those who suffer from this horrible condition. For Carly and Caleb, and all the others like them.
My brother had a foster child with Autism and that boy was the most interesting and magical child I have ever met. EVER.
My brother and step sister are both on the spectrum (and so is probably my youngest). My brother’s pretty mild, my step sister is one of the small % of children with more severe autism and no mental disability. She has been living in an assisted-independent setting and he is married with a baby.
Efi always says that our parents always tried to cure him, so he could be happy, but in fact, they wanted to cure him so they could be happy: he was happy to start with. Non-verbal, seemingly disconnected, but happy. Everyone has been a lot happier since they stopped trying to get him cured. We imagine what happiness or suffering must be like, but they seem to see the world and life in a completely different manner. My brother still can’t tell when someone is sarcastic, can’t read facial expressions beyond the basics (and with the basics he can’t tell when they are fake or real) or body language, but he is expressing his own feelings in his own ways.
Of course we can never know what truly goes on in the minds of people with Autism.
In my eyes Autism is not a poorly functioning body: it is a differently fnctioning mind. I think you view Autism the same way I view CP: a trap where your body simply won’t do what your mind says.
Wow. That is so touching!