Musings and What-not

I've never been ashamed of my son or embarrassed by him.  And I've never wanted to "fix" him. A part of me feels like I can no longer hold my head high when I say that he has autism. A part of me feels like the weight on his shoulders has increased in mass. A part of me feels that I should keep our really cool Autism t-shirts tucked away in a drawer... never again to see the light of day. A part of me feels like if I say the word, "Autism", people look at me with disgust as if my son is contagious. A part of me wants to forget I transitioned to a holistic lifestyle and Jackie Chan some folks. The media controversy doesn't help. Breathe in.  Breathe out. I guess I'll have to wait for the magazine cover that declares, "Autism Community Rejoices!  Scientists Finally Have Answers!" Hope I don't have to wait too long.

I personally think that Sen. Barack Obama may be wavering on this issue of “vaccines cause autism” because he’s already in hot water over comments by his former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and the autism and vaccines thing is somewhat of a “controversial” issue for some people (for those who know better, it’s not………it’s just plain false, that vaccines cause autism.) What is interesting about the portion of the quote in parentheses is the fact that it's coming from a person living on the spectrum.  Someone who has firsthand knowledge of what being autistic is all about. What's even more interesting is the fact that I've never heard or read a statement like this from someone on the autistic side of the vaccination "debate". It's late, and I'm a bit tired.  Maybe I didn't read it correctly, but it sure does look pretty cut-n-dry to me, "it's just plain false... that vaccines cause autism." I consider myself to be a very open-minded person,...