Our Autism Experience

I thought I would write about the Autism Experience. Our Autism Experience. Sounds like the name of a ride at Disney. With the rate of Autism rising daily maybe it should be. I know my experience has been a ride. An experience that everyone should feel. To be in someone else’s shoes is the best way to learn.

Imagine if we could only feel like our children do then we would know what they need help with. Imagine if we could feel like others that raise children with Autism.

My experience so far is rather hard to talk about. Just a lot to say is more like it. Not that I don’t regret every minute of it. Children with any disability can teach us lots. Instead of teaching them they teach us.

Every time I go to a Children’s Hospital I see how lucky some of us do have it. I see Children worse off than my boy and parents that I am sure they cry themselves to sleep every night.

I feel sad that I ever dare complain that I have a child that is healthy to some extent. He may have problems communicating but he has full use of his limbs. My boy may not be able to process things like we do but I know I have a 99.9 percent chance that he will wake up tomorrow morning. Others don’t have that chance.

So who am I to complain that I have to make sure that I never sleep at night with fear that my child will creep out into the night. He has done this many times before and to my horror and my joy he has done this while completely naked. In turn was returned to us safe when a good person called the police to report what he was seeing. If my child were not naked he may have gotten farther and would have brought him right out in the middle of The Roosevelt Blvd.

I thank God every day that I have the strength to keep him safe from harm. I thank God every day I see him smile at me. I thank God every day for his Guardian Angel that watches over him when I can’t.

My Autism Experience has been nothing to complain about. I get to stay home now and grow old with my kids. If my child were not Autistic I would have no choice to stay with the career I had built over 11 years.

My Autism Experience is nothing to complain about. We save lots of money cause it is hard for us to go out. It is really hard to find support when your child could hit a person and we don’t understand why.

So you see I should not complain about a thing. But I still seem to feel so much pain. I know how lucky I have it but yet I still feel hopeless. Not sure if this will ever get better for him. Will he ever speak to me so he can tell me how he is really feeling? Will he ever stop hurting others so we can take him out more often and show him more of the World?

What seems to be happening is I am learning to live The Autism Experience with him.