Nice 🙂

I'm on the spectrum, Asperger's Syndrome. And while there are some benefits that come with being an Aspie (I'm sure I wouldn't be able to single-handedly run one of the best missing persons databases on the web if I wasn't an Aspie), most days I'll tell you I would throw my so-called "gifts" in the gutter for a normal life. I have very few friends outside the internet. I make people angry and annoyed and I don't know why. I have pretty bad sensitivity to touch, and to noise, but sometimes my boyfriend can shout for me from down the hall for fifteen minutes and I still don't hear him. My Asperger's was a large part of the reason I had to quit school at the end of eighth grade.

Of course, I wasn't diagnosed until I was an adult. Who knows what I'd be like if I had had early intervention -- but I'm not sure those programs existed back in the eighties.

I'm reading these posts and can relate to almost all of them. I am so grateful for the perspective of people on the spectrum. My son is 7 and high functioning. My husband and I work opposite shifts, any and all overtime, consult specialists...you know the drill.... so that, when the "one cool dude", as we refer to him, is home from school and on school breaks, he has somewhat of a routine.

I have to say autism has put a perspective on life. We now slow down and appreciate. We see that hard work and team work is what works for us. Our family feels blessed to be entrusted with this wonderful person.  

I have a question. With our older children who were born in the late 80's early 90's, I was allowed one ultrasound to see how far along I was. I will never forget what my doc said..."We don't know what the long term effects of what an ultrasound might be on a developing baby." With my son, being an older mom, I was considered high risk and all told had 11 ultrasounds.

I see the "explosion" of the autism diagnosis and wonder if the ultrasounds have something to do with it.

I asked my sons pediatrician and he said there were no studies to fall back on. I asked a few of my sons therapists and got an "I never thought of that!" from quite a few of them. I asked that they take a survey from their other clients....almost all of the moms who have kids on the spectrum (in the therapists clientel) had 5 or more.. This is just food for thought.

Our middle daughter is expecting the first grandchild and will have only 1 ultasound.

We are constantly evolving in our learning of how to take of our "cool dude", but he knows he is loved, wanted, and will always have his family by his side. Thanks for your blog, and thank you for listening.

Autism to me is a Gift and so many more words describe my feelings for my Autistic Child. Challenging is definately one of them, mostly when it comes to socializing as that is my daughter's weakest area. Even though others are so ignorant when it comes to our children, I will never give up on helping my daughter "fit in" some day...

Severe autism means loving your child with all your heart and feeling so sad for him and his future.

It basically means that we are fucked in the social department. Social rules make no sense and we are the only one's that seem to notice or care. We are strange which sure as hell beats being normal. What ever normal is anyway? We have obsessive interests that become our passion and even purpose of living. None of us are the same. We are socially misunderstood. I have been called rude without the intention of being rude. It's frustrating and Autism needs more awareness. Especially for adults that get cut off of government services because of age. The best thing about AS is that we don't follow the herd of mainstream sheep. Yes, I used a metaphor and am a flaming red aspie.

Well, autism has certainly taught me how to view the world differently. My "kids" are now both 23 years old, both adopted and not bio-related. I have been at this for some time, and have so many thoughts. With my son, the early years were a long nightmare, with a couple of miracles here and there. Screaming, sensory issues, health issues, anxiety, plenty of anxiety. and on and on. I dreaded high school because middle school went so poorly. but he walked in the door the first day, proved he could act mannerly, and turned out to actually be very intell igent What a nice surprise! He now lives with me, by choice, works at a sheltered place that does actual, meaningful work, got his learners' driving permit, and has a girlfriend he sees for exactly 3 hours, once a week! (Still autistic, you see. Rigid!)Never would have predicted the ending here. The girl, same age, attends a day program, lives in a fantasy world 90%of her time, and makes very little meaningful connection to anything or anybody, tho she has phenomenol speech skills. Mental illness clouds her autism, one could say, tho there is no doubt she is autistic. I worry about her all the time, because it appears she will require lots of lifelong care. Her oppositional personality makes it diffucult to provide the best for her

I don't know what Autism is for me. I'm 47 years old and last year an "expert" diagnosed me with Aspergers. The thing is, I guess i've always had Aspergers. so logically, I don't know what it is like to not have Aspergers. I haven't researched it further than Wikipedia and I just carry on bimbling about with my life like I always have. MY 19 year old son has ADHD and ASD. He can be stubborn, rude, short tempered and will fly off the handle at the slightest thing. He is also honest, lovely and unique and I wouldn't have him any other way.I just wish the rest of the world would simply leave us both alone and stop telling us how to behave and how to live our lives.

autism for me is experiencing every emotion the heart feels on a daily basis. soul-searching deep within for all the 'tools' i need to provide a loving, happy, healthy life for my 16-year-old son. I learn and see something new from him daily. He lifts me up when I am down. I know I can accomplish anything when I look at him knowing all he has fought against. He is a victor! My inspiration! Our hardest, toughest issue is the communication. he tries hard to get his point across and I try harder to understand him. If I had the chance to trade a day in the life he lives, I would just so I could understand him and be a better mom for him. ♥

Autism is having to learn a new language and culture to effectively communicate with my son. It is also beating myself up every so often when I "missfire" and misinterpret how my little guy is feeling. I work to build my fluency with his language and culture every day. Autism is also promoting acceptance, by sharing with the world the insights and perspectives I've gained from my son.

To me autism is very challenging but also mind opening. Autism is a different way of thinking and a different way of learning. Its a disorder that demands tons of patience, understanding and love. Autism can help open your mind and to view the world in a very different way. It can be both exciting and exhausting. It can push you to your limits, but making you a better person in the end. It makes you stronger, it helps you to celebrate the smallest of victories as if they were a nobel price. Autism is again a major challenge but I would never change my son for the world. I love him just the way he is, he enlightens my life in more ways then i ever thought possible. He makes me smile each and every day. He really makes me value the smallest things in life. Autism, sure it has brought its challenges but has made my life so much better and brighter then I could have ever asked for.

I have a son jake who is autistic and verbal. He is no different than any other kid but he is locked up inside his head. It's like a bee without wings. Still wants to make honey. So we need to fly them to the flower and find a way for them to learn how to get what they want and need to do The other day I ask my son to pick up his toys but he was resistant. So I help him to work out his delemia . He just wanted to ask me something first then he was ready to tackle clean up. The same is true for all levels of autism even non verbal Just find a way to help them resolve and then they can go on

Autism is a disability, a whole disability and nothing but a disability, so help me God.

And yes I'm an Aspie myself. I struggle daily each moment in life. I'm not sure about anything in my life, I do not understand the world I live in, I certainly do not follow or understand the people around me. But I live life to the exhaustingly fullest that I can, with everything that is given to me and that I am. I am an Aspie. I am in the Spectrum, Deadly Hellishly exhausting, tiring, nightmarish at times. But that's me- You do want not to walk in my shoes, try to keep the appointments with life that I make. Mut ity's mine. And I would not want to trade it for any neurotypical sad unconscious level life in the world.

Yes Autism is being in a foreign land while fully expecting to be in another. But God or who or whatever has given us all the power and the ability to look for the adventure and the beauty of that unexpected place and aside from the ramifications and troubles, the wonderful opportunities and vistas that that sudden other country brings with it. Autism asks us all to open our senses and minds to the fullest.

Autism is NOT punishment by God- don't anybody DARE to say that- It is the Puny humans who do not understand this that punish the Autists and their caregivers, NOT God. And yes I can get very angry at such statements- If we Autists wherever in the Spectrum and our caregivers can not see the Wonder and the Gift of our state and that we should see what we have upon us as a punishment, ... That would be the work of the Devil himself- Not God.

Autism is a communication disease which robs parents of their ability to communicate with thei children. The children live in a world of their own until someone goes into their world and brings them out. Their learning of how to communicate in our world is a journey that will take their entire lives. There is no miracle cure to improve children with autism, It takes time and effort and then more time and more effort. At some point the child has to decide to remain in our world and that is when the real work begins. Then the child is an ally in the education process, and then it is up to the child how far he develops and it is a terribly long journey. I am 65 and am still on the journey. It takes a long time to become proficient on this journey, I hope that sometime before I die I can say I have accomplished this journey.

Autism is NOT God's way of saying Fuck you- Autism is God's way of showing that there are other ways to stand in life than only neurotypical standardness. Autism is A way of God to forcefully open our eyes to how humans go about their business, how complex life really is, how beautiful and marvellous life in all it's splendor can be, how Hell can exist in the middle of Paradise and how Paradise can blossom in the middle of Hell, how Angels can live between Mortals, how relative things are. THAT AND a lot of other things is what God says with Autism.

Autism made me cherish and appreciate the little things my son does in life - a smile an empty plate of 'new' food a quick random cuddle - I certainly wouldnt change any part of my life

Autism for us is just another part of my son's genetic syndrome. It's the part that causes him to flap his arms and get aggravated when I don't understand or he doesn't get his way. It's the part that makes him hurt himself. It's the part that makes him want to watch Dora the Explorer 24/7 because he likes the repetition. It may also be the part of him that loves music and allows us to connect through that music. It's the part of his syndrome that actually improves with treatment...doesn't go away, but improves. It's the reason that on some days he seems to be on a different planet, while on some days he is totally with us and tries to communicate.

To the guy who says "autism is God's way of saying fuck you," I understand where that comes from. I have had issues with autism and raising kids (two) with it. It is NOT easy. The world out there will look for reasons for you to have a child with it (so does it run in your family?), but if you look...really look hard out there, autism is a great equalizer. It affects families of all ages, races and stages, beliefs in some higher power or not. If one has wealth, one can buy better cars, resources to get to the specialists and alternative methods. Autism is in Uganda, Jamaica, Netherlands, England...name a country and there are families, orphanages, sole parents or extended family in it raising a child with autism. My job as mom is to see them through life and try to get them to independence. That means also taking care of myself. My child learned that I was a safe place before they mouthed the words "I love you." And I committed myself to loving them no matter what, keeping them safe from themselves and others.

Autism for us has been a journey. We are on the road toward recovery and have made tremendous gains by taking the hollistic/biomedical route in healing and recovering our daughter. Since taking this route, she started to respond to her name, make more eye contact, the severe GI issues have gone , severe eczema has gone, the constant sickness has gone, words started to come and now those words are starting to become sentences. All this with in a year and a half. She is almost 4 now. We still have things to work on but when I look back at where we were and where we are now, I know that nothing is impossible. Through Autism we have learned to appreciate the smallest of things. Every new word is a victory, pointing for the very first time at 3 1/2 yrs old was total excitement. Hearing her say the words " I love you mama" PRICELESS! Through Autism we have also become so much more aware of the toxic world in which we live. The chemicals constantly around us and the harm they do to our bodies.I do not accept Autism, we will continue to kick it's butt. Children ARE recovering from autism. We choose HOPE, and I will not surrender to autism.

Autism is a "nightmare" created by "big pharma", and our government which includes"environmental toxins" (GM foods, preservatives, additives, pesticides, preservatives. mercury........the list is very long!) I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy! It is also a "wake up call" for us...think "canaries in the coal mine".......All that said, i love my daughter with all my heart and soul and accept her just as she is! However, why would i want "my baby" to suffer? The "pain", yes, pain on a daily basis in her GI system, not to mention the emotional pain of not being able to communicate her most basisc needs! My wanting to help her, recover her, is only for "her", i want her to have the best in this life and not to struggle in this world. However, this horrible "epidemic" must end, we must gather together, support one another and find a way to stop this disorder that is "stealing" our children from us, ruining their futures and the future of this country!

Autism is me battling with not smoking because I know my special needs child is going to need me forever and since I can't give him that I need to give him as much as I can. Autism is constant fear of strangers, and even people I know, being alone with my son because he can't tell me if they do something. Autism is me wanting to just get fucking high on heroin or morphine, even though I have never done either, because just for a little while I'd like to be at peace. Autism is me reaching for the baseball bat I keep in the back seat when I get cut off in traffic and praying to God they stop and get out. Autism is watching my three year old son do things my seven year old can't, and wondering how he feels about that. Autism is never having heard my son say 'I love you'. Autism is God's way of saying 'Fuck You'. And I say it back to Him daily.

As a single mom, Autism is an ever ending battle... Autism is explaining everyday things in a whole knew round about way. autism has made me the patient momma I am today... yesterday wasnt so patient but we just take each day at a time...

Autism for me is frustration. There, i've said it. I can't sugar-coat it or call it a "gift". Im drained and worn out most of the time. My son's Autism consists of a number of extreme sensory issues as well as explosive episodes which last anywhere from a few minutes to over an hour, several times per day (usually 10-30 x/day). We have been through therapists, neurologists, OTs psychiatrists and several meds, not to mention many schools as well. It's a constant learning process for me to find what works, and what doesn't. I would love to say that i'm hopeful things will change, but we are not there yet...

Autism is a label given to my boys. A label that makes them stand out as being different. A label that tells other kids something is wrong with them. A label that says my boys can't do this, and won't be able to do that. A label that needs acceptance, understanding and most of all educated. A label my boys have proven wrong time after time!

To me, #Autism is a very challenging disorder for not only my 3 boys but for my wife and I as their parents. Life is constantly changing and we can never seem to get ahead of the curve. Our lives are loud, chaotic and a constant struggle. Having said that, I have also learned so much from my boys. I love them move than anything and I have learned to appreciate all the little things that most other people would overlook. While life is challenging to say the very least, it's also extremely rewarding as well.