“My sweet boy wasn’t talking, and he was growing increasingly frustrated. His sensory sensitivities were unpredictable. I do know I avoided saying ‘yes.’ But I couldn’t say ‘no.’”
‘I said, ‘Ask me anything!’ My 7-year-old niece was quiet and hesitant. ‘Is he going to be like this forever?’: Mom of autistic child offers support,’ Know there are so many of us with you’
‘I remember calling the police so they wouldn’t blame me for abuse. I knew he was going to harm himself. I could no longer keep him safe.’: Mom of son with aggressive autism says ‘he’s perfect to me’
“I stood behind him, yelling to my husband to watch as I clapped repeatedly behind his head loudly. He didn’t even flinch. I said, ‘He’s deaf, right?’ When he was in elementary school, he was physically abused by a speech pathologist. I reached out to anyone and everyone for help, but I was left empty-handed for a very long time.”
‘Is this normal?’ My husband watched me jump into that black hole in an effort to pull her out.’: Woman tells how autism affected her marriage, ‘I could only see what was visible in my autism-centered world’
“She withdrew into her own world. I would stand right in front of her, screaming her name. She didn’t even acknowledge I was there. The doctors called it autism. It was still up to me to figure out how to make it better. I pushed everyone away, including my husband. A mother is only as well as her sickest child.”
‘We walked towards the line. John made a beeline for the door. ‘I’m here to help. Follow me!’ Tears filled my eyes.’: Mom ‘in tears’ after touching act of kindness for autistic son
“John is autistic and has a great love for animals. We thought it’d be a fun family outing to go to the Aquarium. It was a mad house. There were long lines, people everywhere. Overwhelmed, John made a beeline for the door. My heart broke. The stares stung. A man asked if I needed help. I explained we wouldn’t be staying due to the circumstances. He reached out to shake my hand. ‘My name is Chris and I’m here to help!’ He told me he had a ‘back way.’ My eyes filled with tears. In all our years, this was a first.”
‘My wife must regret spending her life with me. If she met someone different, she’d have perfectly healthy children,’ I told myself. ‘He is one of 34 people known to have this.’ My heart sank. ‘What? In the country?’ ‘No, in the world.’
“I remember thinking, ‘Maybe we just aren’t the best of parents.’ Little did I know my wife was secretly researching and had discovered a condition. One day, she showed me a video. My heart sunk. I felt dizzy. Straight away, I knew this was what our boy had.”
‘I’m supposed to say being the father to a seven-year-old non-verbal son with Autism is very hard.’
“To put it bluntly, it’s like sipping on the world’s greatest champagne while people chugging warm Kool-Aid pity you for it.”
