National Autism Awareness Day

So today's post is more therapeutic for me than anything. Today is National Autism Awareness Day and that is such a great thing. I have a 5 year old brother who is affected by autism and I love that attention is finally being brought to the disease. Today started out pretty well, my husband wanted more than anything to go out on our boat fishing so like a little kid he woke me up bright and early raring to go. We went out for a few hours and didn't catch a thing, not even a bite. That's ok though because I knew he had fun. When we got back home I turned on the tv to notice that a special on autism was on and I definitely wanted to watch it. Today is about education and awareness after all and I am always looking for more information on the very thing that so deeply affects my little brothers life. After watching this show I found myself just that, totally aware. Aware to the fact that I have been so blind as to how much my brother is actually affected. Aware that he is so much worse than many other children labeled with autism. I found myself at one point saying to my husband, "gee, I wish James were as far along as this little boy". The majority of the show focused on the little boy when he was around ages 2 and 3. My little brother is nearly 5 and a half and he is much worse than this little boy at the age of 3. At least this child is verbal and you can communicate. How is it that they are focusing on the little boy and having him be the depiction of "autism"? I fear that people will see this special and think that autism isn't that bad because in my eyes this boy seems fairly normal. I find myself wondering how my brother will end up. How will he develop so that he can lead a somewhat normal life. I have been aware of the disease for a while now yet so unaware of the severity to which my brother is affected. Today is the first day I actually sat and cried thinking about my brothers future. I just sat there and cried, no, sobbed.


On the other hand I do see the progress he is making and what he could become. He is so lucky to have my mother and step father there fighting for him. They work tirelessly everyday to get him the help he needs. Speech, OT, play therapy, swim therapy, or whatever else might work for him. I see my mother completely consumed everyday my his disease, consumed by research, treatment and just trying to manage day to day life. I don't know where he would be today without her there fighting for him every minute of everyday. She is truly an angel and I don't know how she manages to do what she does but she is a miracle worker.


April is National Autism Awareness Month and I urge everyone to get educated on this disease because it is so much on the rise. Next time you are out and you see a child misbehaving and you think to yourself, "what a brat, why can't they get their child under control?"... I want you to stop and think, maybe that child isn't a brat, maybe there is more there than I can see. You never know what the circumstances are and why that child is acting out. That child could be acting out because they are autistic and something very simple set them off. It could be that something is out of place, they don't like the color of the walls, or one of my brother triggers... Babies with pacifiers in their mouths.


So what's next? I pick myself up, put on my blue shirt in support of autism awareness day and move on with the day. You have to keep moving on and forward and pray. I pray that my mother and step father continue to have the strength to keep fighting and I pray that my brother will start to progress more. I pray for a treatment for this disease. I pray for the families so deeply affected by autism, and esspecially the ones effected even more so than mine because there are children that are much worse than my brother. Tomorrow is a new day and another opportunity for advances to be made.


I love my brother more than life and he is truly a blessing to our family!