One of the questions was, “What is your disability ?”
I asked him this question and he said , “what is a disability?” I wondered , did he not think of autism as a disability , did he not know what a disability was , does he not understand autism or did he not realize he has autism. All of that happened in my head in about 5 seconds, all while keeping a smile on my face.
I don’t truly know his answer to this, but I used it as a teaching moment. After we finished , I felt some sadness and some joy. Sadness that there is so much unknown and the “ heavy heart “ that comes with it all. Joy , in the simple moment of him repeating back to me that he has autism . He had strength in his voice and curiosity in his eyes.
The innocence of it all was such a reminder to me of all that we have to deal with as special needs parents.
We wake up every day wishing we could make it better and I think sometimes, that wish is just that we could make it easier. For them and for us.
I took this pic yesterday right before we did the papers. We drove through Wendy’s, maybe I look so mad because I opted not to get the frosty !