Having an autistic child is not the end of the world--far from it. It is my hope that through this blog, at least a handful of people will get to understand that. My child is amazing, she brings us tremendous joy. We have good days & bad days, but we CHOOSE to focus on the good. Our belief is that by loving our daughter, giving her the most comfortable environment we can, and by most of all accepting her differences, she will continue to blossom--in her OWN way.

3/22/08

Random Ramblings...

I'm currently working on about 8 different posts. One by one, I'll get them finished & ready to add here. I've read some great posts this week:

*As always, Dr. Kristina Chew on AutismVox has a week's worth of incredible writings. My favorite has to do with an upcoming art show, The Artistic Spectrum, something near and dear to me. I'm an artist, but more importantly, my youngest daughter is showing us signs of some incredible artistic streaks (one of her "savant" abilities beautifully shining through--yes, my child is "one" of those that the autism charities hate for the world to hear about). This story made me miss where I grew up, and wish I was there to catch this show. My mother was excited to hear about it, so hopefully she'll be able to see it. Anyway, this article and this art show fills me with so much hope for my child's future, I can imagine seeing her at such a show, getting her due respect & acceptance.

*Another great story, on Along The Spectrum. This Jersey Girl has been a fan of The Boss for as long as I can remember. Just ask my husband--how many times has he had to listen to me sing along to "Jersey Girl" or "Glory Days?" Stories like these, really remind us of the good that exists in this world (including rock legends). What a joy, to think of Eddie playing his heart out on that harmonica.

*An interesting piece on A Photon In The Darkness, on some new studies and how they dispute the GFCF diet "cure" and all those urine test results. Can't wait to see what the DAN! docs make up to blur this one.

*This from Life With Joey, a glimpse into a day in the life and I just love it.

*Welcome to The Rat Race, I can't wait to read more. I just may learn some more Italian while I'm at it (and make my father's family proud).

*Autism News Beat on Kirby's piece in the Atlanta Journal Constitution and holding publications responsible. Contact information for paper is available here as well. Let our voices be heard, once again!


Some things that really inspired & cheered me this week:

*A nice little trip with my family. It was relaxing and fun for all 4 of us, doesn't get much better than that.
*Seeing the pride in my husband, as he's bragged to whoever would listen about my blog's Forbes mention here, along with AutismVox, Neurologica, & Respectful Insolence.
*I'm not one who likes receiving praise necessarily, but it was nice to be applauded by family & friends for my writing.
Photobucket*Seeing this at the bookstore (can't wait to read it!). Sorry those who disagree with accepting (and forget about embracing!) autism or our children, but our stories are getting out each day, and our voices are becoming louder!
*My mother telling me she is trying to find an autism bumper sticker, but all she could find was an Autism Speaks one, she asks, "Now, that's not who I want to support, right?" I smiled. Her & I have had many a long-distance chat on these charities, adults services, curebies, anti-vaxers, etc. I loved knowing she 'got' it, and loved that she was doing her own part.
*She also told me about the news story she saw about Stephen Wiltshire (of whom I am a big fan of). She was in awe of him. We both agreed how nice it was to see a "good-news" piece on autistics and autism. Certainly, Lauren Thierry cringed when she saw a successful autistic, showcasing a talent. We can't have any of that, now can we?

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yes, lots of great posts here. Thanks for sharing.

abfh said...

Here are some links to pro-neurodiversity bumper stickers that I like:

http://www.cafepress.com/oddizmautistry.20843756

http://www.cafepress.com/autism_rocks.8382716

And this last one isn't specifically a bumper sticker, it's an all-purpose sticker, but it's a good one:

http://www.cafepress.com/iveheardthings.154123564

Another Autism Mom said...

You can make your own bumper stickers on cafepress... And they buy them from your own store. : )

Congrats on the Forbes link! I could see the antivax crowd got really mad they weren't mentioned.

I always liked to read your blog, even before you started to get more links and comments. I'm glad you're getting more recognition now.

Another Autism Mom said...

Sorry, I meant: "And *then* buy..."

Club 166 said...

Forbes!

Way to go. Congrats. Keep up the good work.

Joe

kristina said...

I show the YouTube video of Stephen Wilshire drawing Rome to my Latin classes---they're speechless and then have tons of questions (and we don't get to too much Latin after that).

Thanks for asking for other bumper stickers. Have been seeing too many a baby blue puzzle piece around where I live though....... prefer yours with the money! And thanks for the mention and for all your blogging and question asking---now that's advocacy.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the welcome! Very little time for writing on The Rat Race, in these days -- but we hope to get back soon -- and perhaps to translate in English some older posts.

S.L. said...

Thanks all! Glad to have those other bumper stickers, abfh. And, I'm trying to get my money one up there on cafepress, I need to re-do it larger, so it looks better there. Will get to it, and let everyone know when it's available (hopefully within "Autism Awareness" month!!!).

Unknown said...

Both of our cars have this bumper sticker, produced by The Raventones, who gave a concert and led a workshop about the intentional community they live in at Autreat 2006.

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