About this blog.

My son was diagnosed with PDD-NOS at 24 months. I created this blog to bring meaning to the often-confusing label. Sometimes I have answers. Other times, just more questions.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Purpose

Through this journey I've embarked on, I've discovered many great internet sites covering autism, each with a clear voice and sense of purpose. To name a few:


  • Autismville presents the parenting point of view, with an eye towards advocacy.
  • Generation Rescue presents the biomed point of view. (No ambiguity or hand-wringing there!)
  • And some of the best philosophical musings on the internet - about autism or otherwise - are by autistic bloggers. These blogs generally advocate (and illustrate!) neurodiversity.

So what's my purpose? I don't have a clarity of mission or purpose. I exist on the internet to express my confusion. I'm still not convinced my son's diagnosis is accurate, and if it is, whether it will stick. It will probably be another year before I fully accept the diagnosis.

Nevertheless, I have made progress on my journey. My thoughts on the topic have evolved. I used to think Brad was just a "late talker." However, I've come to discover that "late talker" is just NT-denial-speak for high functioning autistic. And I've discovered neurodiversity, a movement that may well touch my son's life, and a concept I find myself embracing.

4 comments:

Judith U. said...

You are wise to look at this from many different points of view. There are no good guys/bad guys in all of this. (Or at least that's what I tell myself.)

You paint such a clear picture of what it's like to have a child who doesn't follow the typical developmental trajectory. The honesty is real ... and that point of view is so very important.

Casdok said...

There are indeed many wonderful sites out there!

Anonymous said...

Thanks. :-)

Koplewicz will be hearing from me soon enough. But I need to be better armed before I take him on. When I'm ready, he, his benefactors, and his superiors at NYU will all have ample opportunity for an earful of my opinion of his handiwork. ;-)

Anonymous said...

Ooops! The bit about Koplewicz was supposed to go to someone else. Still, thanks for the favorable mention and link. :-)