Autism Awareness

Autism is something that never really touched my life, I knew nothing of its effects on people lives, I couldn’t comment on the subject and I was always blind to how common it actually is and the enormously wide scale in which it graces people’s lives.

Please don’t take offence of my ignorance, I’m learning.

Facebook and the honesty of friends I have made online first introduced me to autism, ADHD & the spectrum scale.
I was given an insight to the trials and tribulations that families faced on a daily basis, the traumas, the prejudice, the ignorance and the pure misunderstanding and more often the unwillingness for society to not only not want too but also sadly not even try or attempt to accept the difference. I was also given an insight into the love, innocence, pure laughter and happiness that autism can also bring.

I’ve read statuses that have made my heart sink, made my brain baffle and my words fail, I’ve read statuses that have tickled me, swelled my heart and made my belly hurt with laughter.

That’s the beauty of Facebook, it can bring you realism, a true and heartfelt portrayal of life and a realisation of the world we live in and the things that should not be hidden, avoided or given no thought too.

I still have very little understanding of the spectrum scale but i’m learning, I’m willing to educate and if I can raise awareness within the simplest of things then I owe it to the honesty of the friends I have made on Facebook and the eloquence they have shown in opening up their hearts, through ups and downs and accepting me into their lives and showing me raw emotions & their beautiful families laid bare.

Today we headed to the beach for some fun, I took this as an opportunity to make a huge mark in the sand with my children in the hope of leaving just a little mark in their thoughts and a teeny bit of understanding of what we were doing and why. I explained to them that people are like a puzzle, there’s all different pieces, shapes & sizes but we all fit together snugly if we work together. I also explained we are all different, we may not look the same, talk the same, react the same way but we all posses a heart that exudes love and absorbs it too.

I’ve got a lot of education to gain about autism, ADHD, Aspergers etc but I’m willing….

And as I grasp that education myself I will pass it onto my children.

Please don’t take my lack of knowledge as ignorance, shedding that ignorance is as good a place as any to start….

If you have any links, information, words, thoughts or feelings please feel free to pass them on for ourselves and others to see.

You can find out more information here.

Here’s what we did today….

I would like to thank the Facebook friends whose honesty has helped move people’s attitudes forward, they may not realise it but in that honesty of emotions and glimpses into every lives they are changing people’s attitudes, they are enforcing acceptance and they are raising awareness for the world to move forward the way it should. They know who they are.