Taking the Awe out of Autism

This was my monthly contribution to Hopeful Parents . If you didn't hear anything about Autism Awareness this past week, you must have been living in a cave somewhere in Pakistan with Osama Bin Laden.   You definitely don't watch TV.  You probably don't have a Facebook page.  And you probably don't know anyone with autism, though that is rare nowadays.  With the CDC estimate of 1 out of 110 individuals (it's closer to 1 out of 90 for boys, and in New Jersey it's closer to 1 out of 84), it's pretty much 1 degree of autism separation.  There is a very high liklihood that you are a parent, a sibling, an aunt, uncle, grandmother, grandfather, neighbor, co-worker or classmate of someone on the autism spectrum.  You might just be married to someone with autism, which would explain your spouse's brilliant and quirky mind as well as his eccentric and sometimes difficult behaviors.  The United Nations General Assembly declared April 2 as World Autism A...

T his post was originally published on April 6, 2011   as a featured article for Autism Awareness  at   Moms LA . April is Autism Awareness month, and it’s been amazing to see the amount of awareness that there is today. Autism Speaks has been heading up this campaign, and I must say they have done a super job of spreading the word. They helped shine a light on autism by ‘Lighting it Blue’ on over 1,000 buildings around the world. I’ve been inundated with autism awareness on my Facebook page by some of my favorite Facebook friends (and they know who they are!). I’m a huge LA Clippers fan, and the announcers even talked about autism during the game on April 2nd against the Oklahoma Thunder. The Clips won too. Chalk that one up to autism empowerment! When my son was first diagnosed in 1997, I was anything but aware. Jacob’s behaviors were challenging, but he wasn’t anything like the character in Rainman. Jacob could talk.  He played with other kids. He could be a hand...

April is the officially Autism Awareness Month.  Autism Speaks helped shine a light on autism by "Lighting it Blue' on over 1,000 buildings around the world.  I've received lots of information on my Facebook page.  Celebrities are helping to spread the word as well. But, every family that is touched by autism, awareness is not limited to one month out of the year.  For us, autism awareness is a constant state of being, something you wake up to every morning and go to sleep with every night.  To say that we're aware of autism feels to me like a bit of an understatement.  It's more like we're constantly reminded of autism.  All the time. In the 13 years since Jacob was diagnosed, I have been reminded of autism in many, many different ways. When he lined up his Thomas the Tank Engine trains up in a neat row, train after train after train. When he ignored the entertainment at a birthday party and retreated to quietness of the host's bedroom. Whe...