Lesson Learned

Yesterday on facebook, I posted this as my facebook status:

Next time you see a child 'misbehaving' or hear a child screaming please stop and think 'could that child have special needs or sensory issues?'. Please spare a thought for the child who struggles to stay calm and regulated and for the parents who are constantly stared at, judged and criticized. *Make this your status in Support of families living with autism and special needs*

I have a child on the spectrum.  I am the one the other mommies on the playground have talked about. (Yes, just because you turn your back to me doesn't mean I can't HEAR you.)  Educating the ignorant is not my job, I tell myself.  But still sometimes I think, if people only knew.  If they realized that kids on the spectrum look like any other child.  If they knew just how sweet and kind Josh is, just how hard he tries to fit in, maybe they would accept him.   Maybe they would see Josh and not his quirky ways.
 
I posted this on my status, hoping to raise awareness and acceptance of autism spectrum disorders.  I felt pretty good about myself.  But the ego is a fragile thing...

Then I went out for coffee date, and to the dollar store.  At the dollar store, I walked past a husband and wife.  The husband was taking up the whole aisle.  I said, "excuse me" and waited for the man to move aside.  He didn't budge.  Jerk, I thought to myself.   I plowed past the couple, and gave the two of them my bitchiest "thanks!" on the way by.  Not my best moment.

I ran into the husband and wife once more, this time on the way to the checkout.  As I walked by, I heard the woman say to the man, "You have to move over so people can pass by."  The way she said it, with a motherly tone to her voice made me look twice.  I have said the same thing to Josh a million times.  The man and woman weren't husband and wife at all, but rather mother and teenage son. This man was on the spectrum!  Now I felt like a jerk.  And it hit me....

THEY GROW UP 

so instead maybe my status should say,

Next time you see a child 'misbehaving' or hear a child screaming someone who, lacks social skills,  please stop and think 'could that child  person  have special needs or autism spectrum disorder?'. Please spare a thought for the child person who struggles to stay calm and regulated be social and for the parents people who are constantly stared at, judged and criticized. *Make this your status in Support of families living with autism and special needs*

lesson learned.