1. La Experiencia de los Padres.
Esta sección reúne las diversas perspectivas y emociones de los padres que crían a niños autistas. Los testimonios abordan desde el sentimiento de insuficiencia y el dolor compartido, hasta la crítica hacia otros padres que enfocan la discapacidad de sus hijos de manera negativa.
- Love the child. Hate the autism. Really doesnt work when being autistic is such an integral part of a person.
- You could be the best parent for your autistic child, and the feelings of not being good enough or failing as a parent still creep in. My kids are all happy, healthy have friends, but i still get those nagging feelings. Its so real.
- My autistic daughter struggling to make friends is heartbreaking and triggering to my inner child as well. I still suck at making friends and i just want better for her.
- Normal parents gloat about how kind, clever, or funny their children are. Some autism parents instead prefer to gloat over how difficult their children are to live with and how much sympathy they must deserve.
- As a neurodivergent parent with a neurodivergent child, im seeking to make a better life for my kiddo by fostering their goals and supporting their ideals. I had choices made for me and im taking things differently for my own child.
2. Diagnóstico Tardío y la Infancia No Diagnosticada.
Muchas personas autistas no son diagnosticadas hasta la edad adulta. Aquí se recogen reflexiones sobre cómo este diagnóstico tardío resignifica sus experiencias de la infancia, a menudo marcadas por la incomprensión y la sensación de ser un "niño difícil".
- Both of my kids are autistic. My parents used to say my children arent autistic because i did the same things as a child. I was late-diagnosed earlier this year.
- Simultaneously frustrating and vindicating realise the majority of things i was deemed a difficultspoiled child were actually just me being autistic.
- I displayed all of the known traits for low support autism and adhd as a child but girls werent able to be afflicted with those illnesses then.
- Me, filling out the autism screeners for my child, what, this is all normal child stuff. I was exactly like thisohh.
- I think a lot about the various blatant signs that im autistic i had as a child that went ignored because my former parents had no desire to care about me as a person.
3. Críticas al Sistema y la Percepción Social.
Esta sección aborda las críticas hacia los sistemas educativos y sociales que no logran adaptarse a las necesidades de las personas neurodivergentes. Se cuestiona la tendencia a patologizar comportamientos y la falta de apoyo adecuado, lo que a menudo convierte a los padres en los primeros intimidadores de sus hijos.
- We tell kids to sit still, stay quiet, and think the same way. And when they cant, we call it a behavioural problem. But the problem isnt the child, its the system.
- Stop telling your neurodivergent child that in the real world people wont accommodate them, so they should suck it up. This is the real world and you shouldnt be your childs first bully.
- At least, parents are conditioned to think that having a neurodivergent child is the worst thing ever happened to them. They are afraid of their child having extra needs because it will affect their lives.
- My child had some really bad meltdowns at school ive never blamed them for what happened but i blame the school for placing them in the same situations that always resulted in meltdowns over and over again.
- I just wish my adults saw the signs of an autistic, abused child and took me to therapy, got me out of the school and church that allowed it to happen, instead of thinking it was the devils influence.
4. La Identidad Autista y la Brecha de Experiencia.
Se explora la diferencia fundamental entre ser una persona autista y ser padre de un niño autista. Los testimonios enfatizan la importancia de escuchar a los adultos autistas para comprender verdaderamente la experiencia, y critican las etiquetas de "funcionamiento" y la visión del autismo como una tragedia.
- I will never forget the coworker, a mother of an autistic child, who asked me in all seriousness if i really thought that being autistic was a different experience than being an autistic kids parent.
- Imagine meeting someone who has parented an autistic child for 10, 15, 20 years, and realizing they have never in their lives sat quietly and listened to an autistic person never taken direction from an autistic person.
- Damn, im adding this to my long list of reasons why functioning labels are extremely unhelpful for parents learning their child is autistic via formal diagnosis.
- I refuse to label a child existing as a tragedy. This is distinction between me and the profound autism people.
- You remove the autistic husk, and a neurotypical child emerges. This isnt true. It cant happen. But they can do a lot of harm to their real autistic child by trying to get rid of the autism and uncover the real child they think is underneath.