Autism Is Not a Four Letter Word

I remember when we got Joshua's diagnosis. It was a long, daunting process that had taken almost four years. The first time we had him evaluated he was four years old and in his last year of preschool. We were told he was just too smart for his age and was bored. That was the reason for his outbursts and "quirky" habits. Jump forward two years to the first grade and nothing has changed. In fact, it has gotten worse. So we go through the whole process again to get the same answer. He's just too smart for his own good. This had now become unacceptable. Finally, at the end of his second grade year we got the answer. Asperger's Syndrome, or as it would be called now, high functioning autism. Even though I was familiar with Asperger's and had a mom's intuition this is what was going on with my boy, it still felt like someone had punched me in the gut. Now that we had a diagnosis, what do we do? Who do we tell? My husband and I decided that beyond telling family, it would be on a need to know basis. We quickly found out that everyone who had regular contact with Joshua needed to know. Friends, teachers, karate instructors, parents of his friends, every single person who we trusted with our son had to know. It was the only way they would know what to do to help him. We were not in any way, shape or form embarrassed by autism. It was more of a way to protect Joshua. We didn't think autism was a "dirty word" but we didn't want him to be labeled or thought of differently. My biggest fear was that once that word was attached to my son that would be all anyone would be able to see. An autistic child, who can't do this and can't do that. What he CAN do far outweighs anything he CAN'T do. Fortunately, that has never happened. All the people who know and love Joshua still see him as just Joshua. Children with autism are so much more than just a diagnosis. They are loving, intelligent, creative, and above all they are people. Autism is nothing to be ashamed of and I hope that by sharing our stories more people will be accepting of it.