We’ve all heard of autism right?
Probably this week more than any other, given it is Autism Acceptance Week. (27 March 2023)
But did you know there are a significant number of autistic children waiting to be adopted?
Today I wanted to share with you the absolute joys that an autistic child can bring to your world, straight from the mouth of someone who is living and breathing autism every single day – me! They do say if you have met one autistic person you have done exactly that and met one autistic person. So whilst everyone is different, these little extracts from my life are very much personal to me and won’t be representative of someone else’s experience.
My son has always been a larger than life character, funny to his core and the best company ever. Even from being really little he’s always been hilarious. His drama group leader and teachers are forever telling me he’s had them crying with laughter with his quick witted responses and dry comebacks. There isn’t a single day when I’m not belly laughing at something he’s said or done. His humour is honestly the best medicine on the darkest of days. If I’ve had a bad day I know it won’t be long until a quick quip comes along and makes the difficulties of the day melt away.
There are a lot of myths and stereotypes that people often believe about autism that are just not true for us and many other people. He is caring and loving and so empathic. He’s helpful and likes to be involved in things. He desperately wants to make the world a better place – I just wish he knew the world is a much better place because he’s in it.
Often people worry about school for autistic children and whilst mainstream isn’t always the right place for every child, with some adjustments (and some pretty amazing teachers) my boy is doing great. When he was in year 2 at school I remember as clear as day his class teacher telling me he’d really struggle with English as he progressed through his future schooling- I mean autistic children are meant to struggle with English aren’t they? Not only did he absolutely smash his English SATs by only dropping a couple of marks across each of the exams, he’s also in top set at high school – that’ll teach you Miss H for throwing blanket stereotypes around! Although I must admit, true to form, he didn’t drop a single mark in his Maths SAT, so maybe some of these myths do fit!
People also worry about socialising and whilst this area isn’t the easiest, he does have so many hobbies that involve socialising with different groups of people. He is in two separate drama groups, often learning the lines for two different shows at the same time, which plays beautifully to his amazing memory! He also plays the drums in a rock band, goes to Taekwondo and joins every club going at school. Whilst he does need down time to decompress, he just has an absolute zest for life which is pretty contagious.
He is so much more than his diagnosis and the myths that fly around about autism. He is not a statistic, he is amazing and without a doubt my absolute hero. He will never let his autism define who he is and his dad and I will forever be his fiercest advocates and his biggest cheerleaders.
We are proud to be an active part of the autistic community and we won’t stop until we have autistic acceptance 52 weeks of the year, not one!
If you think you could share your life and heart with an incredible autistic child, get in touch. We will be with you every step of the way…we’re here for you!
