One critical point I meant to incorporate into the Welcome to Yellowknife post but didn't get to: I believe one of the most forceful ways to increase autism awareness and acceptance is to declare how much we love the people with autism in our lives: Our children, our siblings, our friends, our cousins, our partners, ourselves. Tweet it loud, blog it proud.
Also, I finally got to read Kristina Chew's reaction to Autism Awareness Day, 'Aut' With Our Autistic Son, and am glad to know that others feel as strongly as we do about community visibility as a form of autism advocacy. Thank you, Kristina.
Hope those of you who celebrate Easter have a lovely one. I can't wait to see Leo's reaction to our cousiny Easter Egg hunt, upon realizing that those plasticky eggs have CANDY in them. If you see a mushroom cloud of happiness emanating from the San Diego coast, you'll know that his hunt was a success.
Leaving you with an Easter thought from last week's Unitarian sermon: Jesus did not come to be worshiped, but emulated. This is a lesson for all of us, about thinking vs. following, no matter what label we give our faith.
Yes, it comes out loud and clear in your blog, that you love Leelo, he child with autism. It's one of the things I enjoy about the blog, as the mom of neurotypical kids.
ReplyDeleteWhy do I love it? because when your kids are typical (or even high performers) it's easy for both the mom (and the kids) to mistake the love we feel for them with satisfaction at their accomplishments. I like the reminder that it's not, that we moms love our children desperately for being who they are.
Vicki Forman (I think) had an essay where she said that everyone sees the "lucky fin" (alluding to Finding Nemo) on their child, a vulnerability or need that they're exposing to the world. We all struggle with protecting that vulnerability, encouraging them to be what they want to be, encouraging others to see them, both in spite of and because of the lucky fin.
Your message streaming out, that you love your child[ren], lucky fin and all, is a reminder to me of how much we mothers share.
The love you have comes thourgh so strongly in your blog. And you're so right, becasue it's so simple that we often forget to say it as you describe.
ReplyDelete