Family

Family

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Autism Awareness


April is autism awareness month.When I had my first child almost 21 years ago I knew very little about autism.It was not until our son was almost 3 and diagnosed with autism that our lives changed forever.As a very young mother I did not expect this to be part of our world however, we became engrossed in learning all we could to help our son reach his full potential. Those who have autistic kids know the amount of patience, commitment, financial sacrifices, advocating,and stress it takes to help their children navigate through this world when the world does not understand theirs.

Strides are being made to help these kids and adults but, the reality is Autism does not go away when you get older. Autistic children grow up to be Autistic adults.Figures now show 1 out of 150 children have some form of autism.As a mother of an autistic son I would NEVER trade this experience of learning and personal growth. I can honestly say our son has taught us much more than we can ever teach him.That being said there is a great need for more awareness, education, research,support and most of all acceptance of those with differences. If you love someone autistic or challenged in some way you will know they are more like us then different.