Self Advocacy

     Self advocacy is one of those terms I may have never known were it not for my sons having autism. It's generally used to mean speaking up for ones self. When I was a child we called it having confidence. It's just another reminder of how much children with autism have to work on. The list can  be exhaustive for some. If anyone had told me as a young adult that my children would have to struggle with the simplest of things, I would not have believed it. Trying to explain autism to me twenty years ago would be like trying to explain television to a caveman. My mind simply could not conceive it. Even now I keep expecting to wake from a dream or is this a nightmare. Maybe if I pinch myself I'll wake up. Whatever the case I can not accept autism as a reality for my children, at least without a fight. How has the good old days become, when kids could talk and think. If ever there was a time to fight this is it. I am completely focused. I am not distracted by any of life's little escapes. You know the usual culprits ( sex, money, sports, reality TV....). I can't understand how anyone could be concerned with such nonsense when our children are being lost. 60 million souls world wide are affected by autism.
     Still, some people are significantly improving the quality of life for their children. We happen to be one of those lucky families that have done just that. In fact, just yesterday my wife and I commented about having a good feeling after our son's IEP. For the first time ever we felt positive about the course set to address our son's deficits.  Usually the IEP is a big can't festival. You know the song, 'He can't do this and He can't do that'. Well not this time. Sure he still has some things he cant do but after seeing so many of those change to things he can do. We feel its just a matter of time before his remaining deficits are improved as well. I'm so pumped up I feel like advocating for myself.
       We met a guy at church yesterday who has experience producing infomercials. Although we had never considered this, I am starting to see this as a possibility in the near future. We have contacted every media outlet we could about our story but have not had a positive response from any. The next step may be to get our message out by way of advertising on our own dime. I'm okay with that. The only thing that truly matters is helping more children.