"I don't believe in the idea that there is a limited window in which we can help our children. I brought up the push for earlier and earlier intervention as evidence that we seem frantic, as a culture, in our need to prevent developmental differences. The climate is one of fear, and along with all that fear is the unspoken assumption that a child who is different is tragic."
Exactly. I have two autistic sons and one typically developing son. My goal for my boys is to give them the tools to be as happy and adjusted--as autistics--as they can be in a world that generally does not and will not accommodate for them. I am trying to teach them skills that will help them to achieve independence while realizing that they may not be able to make it fully on their own, and being fine with that, too. They receive speech and OT services, not to make them "normal," but to give them tools for greater communication, regulation, and fine/gross motor skills. This can help them to write, to draw, to read, and to speak better, as autistics, thus opening up greater possibilities for them. I am not trying to make them "normal" by doing these things. I consider this part of their education; it is no more trying to "improve the broken" than taking neurotypically developing children and sending them off to school. We don't say we are fixing NT children when we are educating them. The education of autistic children is a little bit different, but it is still education.
One problem is the term "early intervention." When we hear "intervention" we feel there is a crisis, some kind of catastrophe. Many of us have read about autism being called a "public health crisis," and when the great tsunami hit Indonesia not long ago, that said public health crisis was being referred to as a tsunami. Images such as this make autism seem like a plague that threatens to unravel the very fabric of civilized society. The mass hysteria that has been generated from all of this has not been advantageous to autistics as a cultural group, if you will. It has polarized the so-called autism community into those who are like Ezra's mom and myself (and all the Autieparents I serve in my Yahoo group) and those who are seeking cures because they consider autism to be an unacceptable aberration. The latter group of parents believe that their child would have been perfectly normal had he or she not been poisoned. I believe autism is genetic. Many, many, many parents of autistics are themselves diagnosed or undiagnosed Aspies. Some are very mild and have jobs, etc, and were not diagnosed until they were in their 30s, 40s, 50s. Some know that they are Aspies, but don't bother to get a diagnosis. In embracing the autism experience in ourselves, we are better able to accept our children as one of our own, not some aliens or some damaged goods.
Good job on your article, Ezra's mom. If some want to hurl accusations of hypocrisy at you (yeah, if you don't believe in early intervention why are you helping your child through any intervention at all), they aren't getting the point at all, and no matter how many times you try to explain your point, they probably still won't get it....such as how you *came* to this realization, and how these truths don't just hit you like an anvil in one fell swoop. They evolve and unfold over time, and they aren't done revealing themselves to us anyway. So long as we are open to these realizations they will keep coming.
