Field Trip with Barb

I haven't had a lot of experience with people who have autism. I wasn't a peer leader in high school who worked with those kids, I see them at the grocery store sometimes, occasionally see someone with special needs at the restaurant where I work. A lot of people, myself included, don't think that people with autism have the capacity to communicate or understand what people are saying to them. Barb showed me that thoughts like that are really misguided. Barb wasn't able to talk to us, but she WAS able to type to us. A big part of her being able to communicate was just being given the chance to. She told us that autism is lonely, and I don't doubt that.

My friend's little boy was just diagnosed with autism earlier this year. He turns 3 this week. Looking at him when he was first born and through his first year of life, I would have never known that he was going to be autistic. Even now, though he can't speak very well, he's very active and from an outside perspective, probably looks like a normal 3 year old boy. The doctors told my friend that this little boy will not be high functioning as an adult. She has been telling people that she doesn't want anyone to feel sorry for her family, but they're going to, it's just a natural reaction.

I'm going to tell my friend about Barb, maybe she'll do some research. Maybe she'll read the book. Maybe she'll get in contact with this incredible person who just happens to have autism. I'm not doing this to "help" her because I feel "sorry" for her. I want her to understand (maybe she already does) that this doesn't mean that her little boy won't be able to do great things later on in life. I'm sure she already understands that. She's a mom after all.