Shine on, Autism Warriors!

Ladies and gentlemen, as I write this I am with a heavy heart laden with sadden, fear, and anger.  Society is unkind.  Life is unfair.  These are all truths that, as unfortunate as they may be, we are all too aware of.  Many of us have found social networking sites to be a place of solace and commraderee.  A place for us to find like-minded people who share interests and passions with.  For those of us in the autism community, someone to commiserate with on the bad days, and someone to celebrate with on the good days.  Today, today I felt like social networking was attacking me.  As a mother, I am horribly sickened by the words that are spreading across these sites uncensored.  The stigma, stereotypes, blatant lies, mistruths, and ignorance and overall HATE that is radiating in our society and being posted on social networking sites and picked up by the media was almost too much for me to bear.

First, I want to take a second to pay homage to where this latest bout of insanity started.  Friday, December 14, 2012, Adam Lanza shot his mother, and then opened fire on the teachers and children of Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.  Twenty-seven people died that day.  Lanza is also dead.  A nation mourns this loss.  Even though I did not know any of those people, my heart breaks for them.  Writing this brings tears to my eyes.  Who would do something so heinous?  Why?

Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas said that God sent Adam Lanza to that school to punish the people of Newtown for supporting homosexual people.  They picketed the funerals.  If God sent Lanza to kill those children, He is no God of mine.  But I don’t believe He did.  WBC makes a mockery of Christian beliefs. 

To add fuel to the fire, Lanza was believed to have a personality disorder and Asperger’s Syndrome, a form of high functioning autism.  Many people believe these two alleged diagnoses were contributing factors in his decision to kill Friday. 

I logged onto my personal Facebook account this evening after getting my son to bed, and found a picture from a page I frequent, More Potatoes Please.  I don’t always agree with everything this page says, but as human beings that happens.  This post however, was most concerning.  Not because of what the page owner said, but what the original poster had written.  The admin at More Potatoes Please, had written that this is what their child was facing, and that the horrible words written in this post were unfortunately not just the sentiment of the original poster.  I, like the owner of the page, fear that my child, that your child, that every person with autism and other mental and developmental issues will face this sort of hatred.  I’m going to shield the name of the poster for privacy reasons, not because she deserves it, but because I believe it to be the humane and moral and ethical thing to do.  Please, remember that this statement does not reflect the beliefs of Goober in Autismland or More Potatoes Please.  In fact, both pages are disheartened by these words.  The posting read:

“Yeah well my cousin works with autistic kids and adults and she says that they are violent people and copy everything they see on t.v. So don’t hand me that s**t.  These monsters need to be locked up, ALL OF THEM, before this happens again. So stop making excuses for them, especially when you don’t know what you’re talking about.  I even know crazy, violent people with ADHD who don’t take their meds. You people need to stop doing drugs while pregnant and having babies that grow up to kill us innocent people.  Yes, I am D**N mad because his family knew he was a sick f**k and actually let him out into population.”

---Note: This was edited to make it less grammatically incorrect and to censor some swears for those who are sensitive to that.  And please, remember that neither my page, nor More Potatoes Please agrees with the sentiment of this poster.  We really, truly, do not.

Now, I want to look at this, dissect it, and write it off as one ignorant woman, making harmful, hateful comments with raw emotions about something she knows little about.  I want to say it’s not a big deal, have a tough skin, let it roll off your back.  I can’t.

See, when Goob was first diagnosed, I did my research.  Back in the day, meaning before I was born, but still not the distant past, autistics were locked up.  They were subjected to shock treatments and lobotomies.  And the idea that anyone, ANYONE, thinks it’s okay to go back to that terrifies me.  Now, I know that the likelihood of this backpedalling that far is slim.  But how far will it go?  Even an inch is too much.  We need to move forward.

This is not just the thoughts of one ignorant woman.  These are thoughts of an ignorant nation.  A nation afraid of something it doesn’t understand.  Our kids, our loved ones are already subjected to horrible bullying.  The thought process of this woman is dangerous.  It’s horrifying, it’s terrifying.

But, I’m a formidable opponent.  So are you.  We have something this woman doesn’t have.  We have knowledge, we have truth, we have cold, hard facts.

I’m scared.  I really am.  But here’s the thing.  My son is non-verbal, he may never learn to talk.  He may never have a voice of his own.  But my voice is loud enough for the both of us.  I will spread knowledge and awareness to every person who will listen.  I will shine our light over all of this negativity.  I will not let my child be persecuted for this.  He will not suffer.  No child or adult should endure this.  And I will not let the deaths of those people in Connecticut be used as an excuse for dehumanizing our loved ones.  It’s unfair to us, it’s unfair to our loved ones, it’s unfair to society, but most of all, it’s unfair to those poor kids and the staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary.  Life is unfair, but this is an injustice that this Momma just won’t stand for.

Keep your heads up, followers.  Let your voice be heard.  Shine your light.  There is darkness surrounding us, negativity, fear, ignorance, stereotypes, stigma, hatred, all looming.  It feels like it’s everywhere.  Don’t let it destroy you.  Stand tall, and knock it down.  Spread knowledge, kindness, and love.  Show the world that we’re not afraid of them.  But more importantly, they shouldn’t be afraid of us.  We have no reason to cower in fear and shame.  The stereotypes are wrong.  Let’s go out and prove it.

As raw and fresh as this feels, this too shall pass.  But nothing has ever gotten better without action.  So get out there and act! Shine on, Autism warriors, shine on!