Growing up with autism4/29/2016 This is the post I didn't want to write.
When I sent out my last newsletter, as always, there was a health blurb. Since it was April, and that’s autism awareness month, I did a blurb on early detection of autism. A line in that article alluded to the fact that I grew up with two autistic brothers. Several readers then asked me to share more about that experience. Please recognize this is one woman’s observations and path, and the interactions with my brothers and family should not be taken as a mandate, a proscription, or even as typical of experiences with autism. What I’m describing is how these two guys impacted my life, so it’s a very narrow field of vision, and purposefully so. If I sound in any way callus, please understand that’s not the case at all. It’s learned gallows humor and the ability to objectively look at things that might come across as somewhat less than introspective. Frankly, if I get too emotional about this topic, I will not be able to write this post. Period. It's super personal stuff, and it’s rare that I talk freely about ‘growing up with autism’. But maybe it’s time. Feels right. Seems like time to write this now that I've gotten some distance. Since I love lists, and, well, they feel safe as a blog structure, then that’s how this blog post is going to go down. Sleeping Beauty was my favorite Disney movie when I was growing up. Her hair! Her pretty dress! Her singing! And doggone it, she was the nicest person, too. The scene where the prince (whatever his name – does he really matter?) kissed her and she wakes up? Perfection. But as I got older, I started thinking about what happened after The End? Did Sleeping Beauty get a job or maybe crank out a passel of kids? Probably the latter. (It >was< set in medieval times, after all.) Did she and her prince go off on a bunch of adventures afterwards? Doubtful. Bet she got stuck pretending to enjoy embroidery instead of getting to race around on steeds or something awesome like that. Well, that revelation was kind of a bummer. (Uh, that's it?)
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Jillian DavidAuthor, daydreamer, and practitioner of trying very hard to duct tape folks together and help when I can. Archives
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