BellaOnline Forums Health and Fitness Autism Spectrum Disorders From Me to You

As an adult on the spectrum who is raising a child on the spectrum I ask that you:

Please stop the cry of �I have �lost� my child to autism.�

Please stop saying your child �suffers from autism�

Please stop judging adults with autism or Asperger syndrome who are struggling to find a place or who are not living a life you feel your child must live.

Please stop abusing adults with autism or Asperger syndrome.

Please keep in mind when you are talking to or about an adult with autism or Asperger syndrome that your child may one day be that adult.

Please stop twisting the words of those with autism or Asperger syndrome around to suit your own agenda or just to humiliate them. Even adults who seem to have no trouble talking may still struggle to put their thoughts into words.

Please stop proclaiming that early intervention is the only way to go. Many adults are being abused in institutions because the funds to support them in the community are all going to early intervention.

Please stop thinking that you, a NT parent, know more about autism then the professionals just because you have read a few articles online.

Please stop referring to your child as �vaccine damaged� Better yet, remove the word �damaged� from your vocabulary. No person or child should go through life thinking they are �damaged�.

Please stop referring to anyone as recovered. Many adults and older teens who are viewed as recovered still struggle in many areas but because they have been told they are recovered they do not ask for the help they need. They spend needless time and effort struggling in silence because of this.

Good post Diane. I agree and was just on twitter asking if I was the only person who did not cry when given the dx of autism for their kid. Seems I was not alone.

These articles in the media focus on kids and the terminology is rude and ignorant most times. The other day when Jenny was on a show my 14 yr old asked me what she meant by her son had autism and then he said isn't that impossible?

These families will get a shock when their kid is in middle school and lacks the social skills since they thought they were cured or recovered.

I watched a video where the author used kidnap to describe the autism dx. I am sick of it.