Here is an excerpt from a story we'd like to share with you from The Child Health Site's "What My Child with Autism has Taught Me" contest. This is just one of the many stories that inspired us. Please share your own!
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I have three children, all of whom I love deeply, fully, unconditionally. Tom has Asperger's Syndrome, and over the past 20 years I have walked beside him as he has picked his way through the thickets of life, so often not understanding what is expected, what needs to be done, why he is expected to act in a certain way. I have suffered for him and with him when eyebrows have been lifted, backs turned, and well-meaning advice given. But I have watched Tom scatter joy as his whole body responds to music or television, as his eyes light when he pats a cat or talks about space, as he quietly places a hand on a tense shoulder. And he has taught me that the value of a soul is not measured by how much money it can earn, how well it can act in a crowd, whether it enjoys what everyone else does. A soul is precious for what it is; and Tom is Tom entire, all his quirks and eccentricities, just like any other soul. He has taught me acceptance.
Anywhere, DC