As with most things, I’m more than a day late and a dollar shy on this one, which occurred on May 1st, but some recent events have led me to believe that it’s better to write late than not at all, so please indulge me.  As with many thing, Ira Socol, has led me to this. Thank you Ira!

The posts that I’m about to put up will reflect my experience as the mother of a child with Autism Spectrum Disorder, so let me disclose my current policy about that. After reading this post, by Ira Socol, I decided that, like many “public” writers, I was using my son in my writing without really getting his permission.

First, I’m trying not to make Ms. Palin’s mistake of using my son as a “hunting trophy”. I share my particular experiences because my son is autistic, but he is at the high functioning end of the spectrum. Many of the stories from autism families are about the difficulties, OR miraculous recoveries. While I agree with Autism Speaks that we need to share our stories so that the public understands, I sense a dearth of tales about families like mine, where it’s part of the picture, but not the picture (more about that in my next post). I also do NOT want to present myself as some “miracle worker.” We got very lucky with my son in a number of ways, he’s a good personality match for my husband and I, he has a “mild case” of autism, he has a pretty sanguine and happy disposition. This is about me and my family’s experience, and is part of a whole, and not a single example to be taken out of context.

Next, since my son is becoming older, I recently showed him what I’ve written, told him why I’m writing (to share with other parents), and gotten his permission to write about this.

Last, I used to drop his first name in the past, but I’m going for not naming him at all going forward. It won’t take much work online to figure it out, and it’s a little late, but it was the least I could do.