Light it Up Blue 3.0

Light it Up Blue 3.0

This is my third Light it Up Blue post (1.o and 2.0) and definitely the one I’ve worried over the least. This is the first year that I don’t choke up every time I talk about Autism, and the first year that it has felt truly “normal.” Yes, there’s been a few bumps in the road with Cooper now and again, but we’ve grown comfortable with ASD being a part of our lives – it’s our normal. I admit, IĀ sometimes do get a twinge of sadness when I take him to the grocery store and he acts like a possessed beat boxer or when I realize other kids Cooper’s age are zooming around on bikes sans training wheels while he laboriously pedals at a snail’s pace even with the training wheel safety net, but I know he’ll get there, just in his own time and in his own way.

Cooper has grown so much. Remember last year how I was so depressed by Cooper’s performance in the Primary program? Well, this year he said audible words into the microphone and I cried for a completely different reason. He’s also blossoming at school. Just in the last month he’s started playing tag with the other kids when school is over – something he’d never wanted to do despite my encouragement. One afternoon he came up to me and asked me to tie his shoe and one of his classmates said, “Cooper can talk!?!” I said, “Of course he can talk” and then Cooper piped in, “I sure can!” which made me want to give him a million high fives. He’s growing and learning, and honestly, so are we. I’ve become less guarded about his Autism and at appropriate moments have told many people about it this last year. It has been unbelievably freeing. I don’t know if it’s my attitude about it or that we rub shoulders with a lot of great people, but 98% of the time people have been genuinely accepting and eager to learn more.

In some ways, our journey with Autism has been easy. We have awesome insurance, an outstanding support network, a cooperative therapy team, and a kid with a lovable temperament, but that isn’t everyone’s journey. One of the things that I found most surprising about the ASD world when I first wandered into it, was how divisive it can be, but I suppose that shouldn’t be too much of a surprise considering the amount of ground the spectrum covers. The diagnosis ranges from families that would do anything for a “cure” from the debilitation it brings to their children to individuals that shun “treatment” and call for universal acceptance of their quirky perspectives. I obviously fall somewhere in between. I want Cooper to succeed in the world, and I think that will only happen with both acceptance and treatment. I truly hope that balance can become the norm for the whole range of the spectrum.

World Blue

One thought on “Light it Up Blue 3.0

  1. Thanks for sharing. Thanks for being such wonderful parents for Cooper. Thanks for being my family. I love you all dearly.

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