The Health June 2020 | Page 31

| World Autism Awareness Day | ome boy t means treat them as any less a person just se you don’t speak their language. the short time since we’ve known his ion, there have been many ignorant ents and much misinformation. ring to mute the negative words and l the myth to replace it with facts; and part as a mother, i want to protect rom people’s ignorance for as long n. But i know this is an unforgiving , and he would have to eventually face eality. But the year is 2020, and i’m ing on people to be more informed, dgmental, much kinder and very ting of differences. More positive vibes elcome. w, how can you do your part in this full of different people with different ies, including autistic individuals y son? teach your kids to be kind and rstanding, to not make fun of others re different from them, and to be ted without judgement. the world is y harsh, to begin with, why spread hate? let’s practice more patience and walk in another person’s shoes. don’t ick to judge when you see parents not able to “control their child”. don’t take out your phone to record some “retarded” and share it online. Some people don’t have a choice in how they are, but you do. Of course, we parents of autistic children try our best to be like everyone else, at least for the sake of everyone else. We work very hard not to offend anyone accidentally. But the truth is our children are very different. not to say that it gives us a free pass to let our son do as he pleases but, please know that we try. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, and sometimes we break down. yet we’ll always get back up again despite the whispered words around us. But it’ll be much better to have the community’s support. do i wish my child was “normal”? (the preferred term is neurotypical.) i would be lying if i didn’t say yes, but honestly, i wouldn’t change him for the world. to me, my son is perfect. if this is the life He intended for me, i accept it with an open heart. yes, it will be an uphill battle with the lack of sleep, constant expensive therapy sessions, and the frustration at communication breakdowns. Still, that smile he gives me every morning and all that unconditional love … you’ll have to fight me to the death to take that away from me. thank you for making it to the end. your reading this means a lot to us and goes towards a better understanding of autism and those who are autistic, this month of April especially, which is Autism Awareness Month. Please help the world around us understand autism better. Spread awareness and acceptance and maybe Aslam can grow up never being treated any differently from others. Sincerely, Hazlin (Aminudin), a mother of a beautiful autistic boy