Autism Awareness – Witchita Falls Stories

There are 9 kids in my family and none of us have autism. I really never heard of it until my sister had her second child. He was diagnosed in his early years and his little brother also has a mild form of Asperger's. My brother also has an autistic son. All three of these young boys struggle every day to fit in and learn how to cope - and so do their parents. These boys are some of the sweetest kids and would go out of their way at any time to help a friend. My sister recently shared how her life is dealing with two autistic kids on her blog.

In my dream world, there would be no autism. Plain and simple. If I won the lottery or found a mountain of money I would use it to help find a cure. Autistics are some of the most intelligent, honest, special people on earth. They can’t always express themselves and are often shunned by “normal” people, but there is a sweet innocence in all of them that anyone blessed enough to be involved in their lives will be changed forever. I admit it’s a daily test of my patience to have two of these sweet angels in my life, but they have taught me new and exciting ways to look at the world and everything in it. I have learned to slow down and breathe deeply. I have learned to unlearn and do things differently. I have learned that unique, odd and eccentric are good qualities. I never dreamed that I would have a disabled child much less two. I mean, how many little girls play house or dolls and say, “my baby is handicapped” or “my baby is broken”. It just doesn’t happen, but when it does and after you’ve accepted that things aren’t as perfect as you dreamed it would be, you learn and experience a wonderful world that few people have the opportunity to see. Yes, it’s a struggle and yes, I’m tired. But if I don’t stand up for my kids and advocate on their behalf, how will they ever become the amazing contributors to society that I know they can be? They will succeed and I’ll sleep later.

She, along with countless others, is affected by autism. This month is Autism Awareness month - but the awareness needs to be all year. Do you have a story you could share? We would love to hear it. Please let us know below.