I used to feel like that. It would sadden me to think that my son couldn’t attend a birthday party without having violent meltdowns and that a simple trip out would prove so problematic.
I’ve noticed on social media recently, there seem to be more and more posts where the parents are lamenting the child they have “lost,” saying autism has taken their joy. That they hate autism and grieve for what their parenthood and their children’s childhood should have been.
They proclaim they are “warrior moms” battling their own children’s autism.
Yet they don’t seem to realize that their children are autistic, that autism isn’t a separate part of their child — it’s not an outside entity that has invaded them.
It’s part of their neurological makeup and affects all that they do, how they react and what they feel.