I Am The Happy Mother Of An Autistic Child

The pride and joy I feel for Adam motivated me to form The Autism Acceptance Project and begin a blog titled The Joy Of Autism. Adam, who is now five years old, was diagnosed at eighteen months of age. The word "joy" in our lives isn't just a mantra, it's for real. Despite challenges and hurdles, Adam's affection and affable nature motivates everyone in our family to focus on what quality of life means: in the short time we have on this earth, we try to focus on what is meaningful in our lives. While Adam may never be a "jock," autism doesn't mean that he'll never play hockey.

In the beginning, it wasn't like this. When Adam was diagnosed at eighteen months of age, my husband and I were terrified of autism. It is a universal theme - most of us are unequipped to deal with autism, let alone any disability. Unless borne to a family with disability in it, or if you went to school with disabled children, there is no way to know how to deal with the sudden diagnosis which many refer to as D-Day. Yet, despite the diagnosis, Adam had not changed. The diagnosis simply changed our perception of him and his future.

All I could picture was a son detached from me, rocking in a corner back and forth for the rest of his life. Isn't that what most of the world thinks of autism? A child who is among us, but "not quite with us?" Add to that a very negative portrayal of autism for the sake of creating urgency and generating money and careers parents are offered very little hope and support to move on in life with autism.