Wednesday, November 23, 2005

Autism Acceptance and Cure

Today is one day I wish there was a way to upload the smell coming from our kitchen. Today is the day to make the yeast rolls my grandma taught me to make before I started school. I taught Billy Ray to knead the bread, probably far too young, because I was so anxious to pass along this tradition in my family.

As this day of family traditions in proceeding, I was thinking about a couple of articles I have read this week about acceptance of Autism versus the struggle find a cure, Sue Rubin’s article Acceptance versus cure and Susan Senator’s blog on The Autism Divide.

All this talk about cure for Autism creates a hope that it is possible and a yearning to do everything we can to bring it about for our child and every other child who struggles with Autism. At the same time our children are alive now and we want to accept them unconditionally and help them to be who they are. Today my son experiences Autism (and other things), that is who he is.

True acceptance is a hard to define. Accepting our child as a person who experiences Autism does not mean that you forget about trying to help him become the best that he can be or working towards finding a cure.

It is a balancing act between unconditional acceptance and wanting the very best for him, a cure for all his disabilities including Autism. I strongly believe that we as a society, not just parents of Autistic children, should do everything in our power to advocate and contribute financially as much as we can to research and seek a cure for Autism. At the same time we need to help our children achieve a life that is as comfortable and fulfilling an individual and to accept them as the individuals they are today.

Happy Thanksgiving,
Peggy Lou Morgan
http://www.parentingyourcomplexchild.com/
http://www.lighthouseparents.com/

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