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The Birth of an Ally

Jean Winegardner www.stimeyland.com We want April — Autism Acceptance Month — to matter, to help further acceptance and understanding of autistic experiences, happiness, and rights for autistic people of all ages and abilities. We will be publishing your Autism Acceptance posts and pictures all month long. If you want to participate, contact us at thinkingautism at gmail dot com. -TPGA Editors Each year there is a  Disability Day of Mourning to honor and remember disabled people killed by their parents or caregivers. Vigils are held around the country for people to gather for this purpose. I had been to last year’s vigil and decided to go again this year, but this year I was going to bring my kids. At first, the idea of taking my kids, at least one of whom is autistic, to an event where people would be talking about parents killing their autistic children seemed wildly…

Understanding Autism Acceptance

Amy Sequenzia Accepting an autistic child does not mean ignoring the challenges that may be part of autism. A parent does not need to pretend that it is not hard to deal with those challenges to be accepting. Accepting autism and an autistic child is about stop mourning a child that does not exist and find the awesomeness on the autistic child in front of you. First, please read Jim Sinclair’s essay Don’t Mourn For Us. Second, I am not saying that some parents don’t love their children. What I am saying is that acceptance is about the child, or autistic adult, and their self-image. Parents cannot say they accept their autistic children if they demonize autism. I remember how it felt when my mother blamed autism for the way I did things. I felt like I was not as good as the other kids, I felt people did not…