An Autistic childhood

Imagine one day your child asks you why god made them bad. This is the reality of many parents of kids on the spectrum. You may wonder where these kids get the impression that they are bad people from well the answer is everywhere. We learn from a young age what the world thinks of us as we are constantly seen as a burden and we even lose friends due to us being the way we are. Parents tell their kids to not hang out with us as we are considered not good enough for their kids. The hate doesn’t stop there though as there is also the internet and T.V where shows and movies show how we hurt other people and how we should be put away in institutions. These movies and T.V shows maybe outdated however when we are 9 or 10 we don’t know this which leads us to believe we are not capable of doing 'normal’ things such as attend a mainstream school. I believe we are just as capable as anyone else even though sometimes it may take us a little longer to learn something new. As young kids we have to live a life of disappointment as so many people do not accept us for who we are. Sometimes it seems as though we are alone in the world and that nobody truly understands us. People go on about how hard it must be to raise a child on the spectrum even though most of the time those people are the ones that make our lives hard. Parents shouldn’t have to convince their kids that they are not bad people who need to be locked up, however this happens on a regular basis. I have read a lot of articles over the past few months and have come to the conclusion that everyone on the autism spectrum want the same things. We want autism to stop being an insult and to be accepted the way we are, kids want people to just be friendly to them and to stop staring and laughing at them. We want to be able to attend a job interview without worrying about if they know we’re autistic or not or if they aren’t hiring us because we are autistic. We want to be able to walk into class without anyone using our diagnoses to insult others or to insult us for being so different. We want the R word to be abolished as it is an outdated term that is used to insult us regularly. We want to live a ‘normal’ and independent life just like everyone else however society is stopping us from fulfilling our dreams. We no longer want our lives to be predetermined by our diagnosis as everyone on the spectrum is unique just like everyone else on earth.We no longer need awareness of autism what we do need and what we are waiting for is acceptance and understanding as that will help us more than a cure will. If you would like to read these blog posts a whole day earlier please check out my Facebook page: www.facebook.com/bryce.pace.autism.advocate                                                                        Thank you for your support