Building Without Limitations

Today is her birthday! She is 20 years old!

There is a rumor that has gone around that Autistic people cannot have children and do not make good parents.

I have 3 children and also I’m sure it’s wrong of me to boast but I can honestly say now that they are 18 years old, 20 years old and 21 years old I have done my best and done well. I couldn’t be prouder of the adults they have become!

I have always believed our entire goal as a parent is to do better than our own parents did. As an infant I was given up for adoption and really did not grow from my biological parents.

Being a mom is wonderful and I still treasure those days back when all of us used to play dress-up together or hide and seek or just sit and cuddle together on the couch and read a good story. I spent hours trying to master the recipe that made home-made play doh and we all spent hours trying to scrape it off the kitchen table.

So what would make people think an Autistic person could not parent children? This is just absurd! As if we are NOT even human. But we are and we enjoy family bonds just as much as anyone.

Building awareness

Our children are only aware of the limitations we put on them. I am so blessed my grandparents who adopted me did not tell me I would never be a good mother. In fact they did the opposite. Most of my childhood was about playing with dolls and learning to help cook, clean and take care of a home. The mennonite culture blessed me with the tools I needed to be a great mom. (as for being a working mom- well there was a lot left to be desired and I kind of had to fake my way into learning how to do that)

Autistic Tip- Autistic people can grow into adulthood and become great parents! Don’t cry at night because you believe your child will never find love and never be a parent just because they are Autistic. This just simply is not true. Please don’t limit us.

The cards of life are not stacked for any of us. The potential to be someone is just as prevalent in an Autistic person as it is in someone who is not.

Let’s not put limitations on those we love based on what others have told us.

John 9- 41 As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” …