I am a firm believer in Biomedical interventions to recover and treat children with autism. But that belief is not held by all or even most of the parents of children with autism. And I’m here to say that I support ALL parents of autistic children whether they use chelation, ABA, RDI, DAN! or are of the Neurodiversity mindset. I don’t care. As long as you are taking care of your child to the best of your abilities, who am I to say you are right or wrong? I personally don’t want anyone judging our choices in helping our son to be all he can be, and therefore I have no right to judge any other parent.
None of us have the ability to make all the right choices at all the right times. Our family life, our economic means, our education, our belief systems, our friends and our experiences all shape who we are and how we see the world. That in turn shapes our ability to help our autistic child. I am here to ask that we support All parents of autistic children instead of cutting each other down. Isn’t being the parent of a child with autism hard enough without us bullying and degrading each other because we don’t have the same ideas in how to raise our child? I don’t have to agree with you politically to be your friend, why do I have to agree with your “treatment” protocol for you to treat me with respect? Don’t we all deserve to support and raise up our fellow autism parents? I for one am so tired of explaining myself to those that I consider my teammates. Folks I see that are on my side of the battle. Why do we have to be at opposition to one another? Shouldn’t we remove those obstacles from each others paths since we know those paths are rocks and narrow at best?
I will not judge another autism parent, instead, I will support ALL parents of autistic Children. This is just too hard, too prolonged, to diverse and too personal to decide what someone else should do. I may not agree with their opinions or methods, but I am not living their life or their experiences and therefore I cannot determine what is right for them, nor them for me. I will respect their ideas and wishes for their child. Stay Well.
