Why I Write: The Beautiful, the Precious, and the Happy of Life with Autism

Recently, there has been some discussion about how parents write about and “represent” their autistic children. Are we violating their right to privacy in sharing stories of their trials and tribulations, and triumphs; of their lives?

The continued references to autism as a “devastating disorder,” a “tragedy,” and as “hopelessness”—as in a recent press release from the Autism Treatment Centre aka the Son-Rise Program—have reminded me of why I feel called every day to write about my son Charlie on Autismland and also here. An autistic child—Katherine McCarron—has been described by her grandfather as “beautiful, precious, and happy.”

And those are the three words that come to my mind every day and night when I sit down to write about Charlie. About autism.

And to say that our life with Charlie, and Charlie himself, are beautiful, precious, and happy, is a pretty fair representation of what life with autism can be, and simply is.