It hasn’t been a mystery to many people reading this blog that I have a very personal stake in autism and that I am determined to advocate for my sons the best way that I know how: education. With statistics rising to 1 in 68 children diagnosed per year in 2014 and a projected average of every 1 in 2 children by 2025…this is something that cannot be ignored anymore. I am not a scientist so my focus isn’t going to be finding a cure, but to educate those people that maybe do not know what autism is. I hope to touch people with children with autism as well and to maybe help them in their journeys of discovery while they explore what it is to have a child on the spectrum.
The road isn’t paved in gold and often times the struggles parents face has more to do with societal stressors and the defunct educational systems that still cannot seem to acknowledge just how imperative it is to provide the necessary tools for our children. Then there are the people that just do not know…our neighbors, friends, or even our families that just do not know enough or really understand enough to confidently support our parenting. It isn’t malicious (it can be hurtful sometimes though), but it is just about education. Understanding what we go through and that it isn’t about good or bad parenting. It will become about creative parenting a child that is so extraordinary that the only label he or she could be given was Autistic. For these kids and adults are amazing and beautiful with precious insights into our world that we the average human beings just cannot see.
I love my sons and part of loving them has been the ability to embrace the autism as it is a part of them; part of who they are. It isn’t their sum total and I would encourage people to lose the belief that they cram all of these amazing kids into a singularly labeled box…it just cannot be done. I often tell people that they only two things that my sons have in common are that they have red hair and an autism diagnosis; other than that, they are about as different as any two people could be. I am proud to be their mother and hope that as I write about us and our journey together that there will be people that learn something that will help benefit other people with autism…and that for others that they will find solace in the words that I share. We are all special in our own way; unique, it’s just that some of us have a classification on what makes us different.
With all of that being said, I might as well share that I am a photographer in the area that I live in and I am running a special there that will offer local families an opportunity get a free ten minute session with five digital images of their family and of course of their autistic child(ren). It is my goal to post all of these images by April 2nd in honor of World Autsim Awareness Day and to represent just how many families our area that are affected by ASD. It will run throughout the month of March and a series of dates and locations as to where I will be doing this will be posted on my professional and blog Facebook pages to let everyone know where I will be.
Help me to advocate through education and bring your families in support of autism awareness in our community. Thank you.
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