There are times, when I without a doubt convince myself my son is hardly autistic. I have been quoted to say "you can barely notice!". And then I will be driving from somewhere, and even with all the background noise of my daughter chanting the new toys she wants and the radio playing a great tune - it hits me. It's obvious, he's autistic.
I've never hid his diagnosis, and I've always talked about it openly. That is something I will always stay true to. There are great things about autistic children that other parents with typical children would never know of. If you've ever forgotten what you needed at the grocery store, Carson would remind me. Carson can sometimes tell me verbatim what somone has said to me (when I haven't heard). When Carson wraps his arms around me, and tells me I'm the best mom in the world, I cherish that moment because they don't happen every day. In the past, I have heard exactly how the teacher has spoken to the students in the class - which confirmed our instincts about the kind of teacher she was.
Make no mistake, autistic children are not "dumb, stupid or (and I detest this one) retarded". I have found that children with autism are colourful, charasmatic, passionate, spiritual, loving, daring and sometimes even a little cheeky at times.
So even though autism is a part of our everyday life, and it becomes our "normal", there are times when I am reminded that his diagnosis is real, and it's for life. When that happens, I'll remember all the great things that autism brings.
