Today is Autism Awareness/Acceptance Day. M was diagnosed with autism several years ago. In our house, we are pretty up-front about our diagnoses from a young age. We talk about Marfan and autism, what are some good things about those diagnoses, and what makes life more challenging. I could talk and talk about what it’s like to parent an autistic child, but as we were having lunch I remembered another autism mom’s interview with her daughter, about how her daughter felt about autism. I decided to try asking M his thoughts. He gave me permission to share our conversation, and he picked out the picture to go along with it.

“Today is autism day, M, where we help people understand what autism is and people with autism talk about it. Do you want to tell people on Facebook anything about autism?”

“It feels great and it makes me happy.”

“Why does it make you happy?”

“Because, um, nothing.”

“Anything else about autism? What do you want people to know?

“I don’t know. It makes me feel happy sometimes and sad sometimes.”

“What makes you the happiest?”

“Doing things cool.”

“What makes you sad?”

“When I get hurt. It makes me feel like my autism goes away and I get sad.”