World Autism Awareness Month

A few days ago, my Blog turned 9. I know I scarcely write anymore, but life is full on, and when I think about sitting down to write, something else always crops up.
Children have the uncanny knack of requesting food or drink, or help with their homework, the second you sit down with a cup of tea.

As we are now in April, I thought it was apt to post about Autism Awareness Month.
Although April the 2nd is the official World Autism Awareness day, the whole month is for awareness.

A lot has changed in regards to the acceptance of autism amongst society, since I began my journey 16 years ago. However, we are still so far from being fully inclusive, accepting, kind, non-judgemental, and supportive of children and adults on the spectrum. 

Thanks to drama shows on the television, books (that turned into plays -The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time), celebrities who bring more attention to it (due to their own personal experience

of having children with autism), and the rise of social media giving platforms to everyone to highlight, talk about, and champion their children and adults, more and more people have an awareness, but this can be at times, a little frustrating, as there are so many facets to autism, hence the full name autism spectrum disorder, that albeit well meaning people can lump every person with ASD into one category, without understanding that every person will have different quirks, needs, likes, dislikes, and level of ability. 

If you use Facebook, and want to be a part of a friendly, chatty, helpful group of parents and carers who have a child or young adult with special needs - all special needs are discussed - then follow this link and join. It's free, and has over 1.2k members. It's highly moderated, and completely closed, so no one outside of the group can see what has been posted. Just click this link and join! >> The Special Needs Forum Facebook