Autism Awareness Month

April is autism awareness month and my facebook page is blowing up with autism awareness this and autism awareness that. Don't get me wrong, that is a good thing that people are trying to bring awareness to this disorder. But...when is enough, enough? The people who need to read those little pictures with the common sense captions, won't and probably never will.

Most people don't change. That woman who gave you a dirty look yesterday because of your autistic child's meltdown in the middle of the grocery store won't read that kids with autism commonly have meltdowns in crowded public places. No, the only thing on her mind is that you can't control your child. On the off chance that this woman, and all the other people who stare while your child bangs his head on the floor, were to read and acknowledge the common truth about meltdowns in stores, will only wonder why you didn't keep your unruly child at home.

You cannot change the world and you certainly cannot change that woman's opinion about your child or autism or about any other disorder. What you CAN do is show your child and the people around you what you think of their opinions about your child by behaving in a way you'd want them to.

Smile. The people who are passing their judgement on you also have a battle that they are living. No one is perfect.

As a mother of an adult with autism, I know that the meltdowns do not last. It is just a phase that will pass. Next time you see another distraught mother with a child in the throes of a meltdown smile, not only because you can commiserate, but because you have been there, done that, and lived to tell the tale!