I got an e mail yesterday from some national autism awareness group that we got signed up with when Nicholas was first diagnosed two years ago, asking me what color Autism is and to remind me to wear blue on National Autism Awareness Day. Oh my Lord. Should I break out my blue pants and attach puzzle pieces all over my self? Yippee! I am AWARE. Look at me! I am aware!
Well, I have recently come to the conclusion that we all have ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder.) I am serious. We are all weird and that in a nut shell is what the Autism Spectrum is all about my friend. It really should be called the weird-o-meter. Some of us are so weird we don't "function" highly in society and others of us are weird but are "functioning" just fine. Some blend in and some stick out. That's all there is to it. I use the term functioning loosely because it is an objective term. What's your function? Are you living to your full potential? Probably not. You are not fully functioning then. Are you doing the best you can? Then you are. Doesn't mattter what your disabilities are. It's all about your abilities and if you can make crapade out of the crap you are dealt with in life. I know some crippled folks who have been dealt more crap than you could ever imagine and they function more highly than most of us ever will.
I happen to be blessed with two weirdos in my life. Well, actually all seven of us rate on different degrees of the weird-o-meter but two of our children are formally diagnosed as being truly weird. Weird is not bad so don't send me any hate mail about me calling my children weird. Weird is just different and I am coming to realize that if you are NOT different, that's just, um... weird.
Schools are so rigid in their teaching methods that a parent of a particularly weird child must fight and advocate for their child's right to learn the way they learn best. If schools would start realizing that all their students are different and that everything needs to be taught in a multi sensory way, then they could do away with special ed and make all education special. Wow what a concept. I figured it all out and I am not even a brain surgeon.
I sure would love Nathan Deal to put ME on his education advisory board. I could tell him like it is. Perhaps instead of wasting teachers' time with all the boat loads of paper work and stressing the children out taking all those ridiculous bench mark tests, they could actually spend time creating and building their students' brain power. Teachers could actually teach and they wouldn't have 30 students in a class room. What's up with that Dr. Shaw, Mr. Superintendent of the year?
Any hoo... We are all weird. We all learn differently. Home school families rock. Wish I could be one of them. My children beg me not to do it. They happen to like school. I use it as a free enrichment program and try to teach them at home all that they must know. I don't sweat the small stuff. I openly share with my children that they will never be timed in math facts when they grow up and that in real life, if you don't like to read, you can get audio books and down load them right onto your i pod. It's no big deal. In high school, you won't be timed in math facts either so don't worry if you only get 30 out of a hundred. I'd like to time Paul Shaw and see if he himself can do 100 multiplication facts in 3 minutes. It was his brilliant idea in the first place.
And while we are on that sore subject, what does it prove to be the fastest one? What does it really do for you to be the fastest at anything? The early bird gets the worm but the second mouse always gets the cheese. And the early worm always gets eaten. Dude.
So, accept where ever you may register on the Weird-o-Meter. Own it. Accept it. You are special and unique and every quirk can be a gift if you learn how to use it wisely. If you are slow, that's alright. Life is not a race the last time I checked.
I just feel sorry for all those boring round pegs out there. I am thinking we might need to raise some awareness on this issue. We need to have National Normal Awareness Day to honor those who are boring as hell. We need to make round pegs into jewelry and art and sell them to all their poor parents who need to show off that they have a child afflicted with boring as hellism. We'll light up all buildings in Washington DC beige and everyone can wear brown. Who's with me?
That's all I gots to say. Amen.
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