This post is from the website Laughing Thriugh the Tears.
http://laughingthroughtears.com/
Post from Laughing Through the Tears Top Five Reasons You Should Never Piss Off an Autism Mom 21 Friday Oct 2011
Posted by Lisa in LISA'S POSTS ≈
We’ve all been
there. Every autism mom has had at least one encounter with some
insensitive jackass who insulted our children or criticized our parenting.
It might have been the perfectly groomed soccer mom who said your child
was merely spoiled, or maybe the old biddy that told you to take your screaming
kid outside even though you were already dragging him out the door in a Fireman
Carry, or maybe just some random mean guy who muttered, “This is why I hate
kids” under his breath while your child happily flapped past him.
Usually we just have to mention “autism” and the critics slink
away, embarrassed and with their tails between their legs, but every now and
then you meet somebody who is such a huge asshole they don’t care if your kid
is autistic, they just care that your child’s noise/stim/existence is annoying
to them, and they don’t hesitate to tell you about how obnoxious your child is
and what a terrible job you’re
doing raising him.
Sometimes their callousness shocks us silent, and we sit in the car afterward,
thinking of all the retorts we could have made. Sometimes we take the
higher ground and walk away, and sometimes we dig in and defend ourselves. (And
sometimes we defend ourselves loudly and with many obscenities, but that bitch
in the bookstore deserved it!)
These people who
attack us are horrible because they have no empathy. They’re shallow
people who probably lead miserable lives devoid of depth and meaning.
They need to learn compassion and respect, but mostly they need to learn to
fear us, because autism moms are not to be trifled with.
Top Five Reasons You Should Never Piss Off an Autism Mom
Five. We’re Already on the Defensive
What? You think you’re the first person to think I’m a bad
mother? Get in line. People have been assuming I’m a bad mother for the
last five years. I chew up people who think I’m a bad parent for
breakfast. You think there’s something wrong with my kid? No shit,
Sherlock – this panel of physicians and psychologists agrees with you.
Tell us something we don’t know. Have something new and clever to
add? No? NO? I didn’t think so…
In other words, we have experience with assholes like you.
Four. We Are Not Socially Well-Adjusted
We were real people once, and we will be real people again someday,
but right now we’re living on the fringe of polite society. We have cut
ties and discarded the family and friends who couldn’t handle our
situation. We all suffer from severe PTSD. Our houses are messy, our
surfaces are sticky, and we know the words to way too many Wiggles songs. We
clean up disasters that you couldn’t even begin to contemplate. We live
in semi-isolation, trying to have philosophical conversations with children who
only know 18 words. We wear yoga pants all day. Our lives are not like
other people’s lives. Do you really want to make us angry? Or do you want to
give us a really really wide berth and back away slowly because you’re scared
of what we might do if we snap? Yes. Good choice.
Three. We Know How to Fight
Autism moms know how to fight because we practice. We fight all day long. We
fight with doctors about treatment, and then we fight with insurance companies to
get it paid for. We fight with the state over services and we fight with
schools about our IEPs. We fight with our families who won’t come to
visit us anymore and we fight with our husbands to let off steam from all the
other fighting we’re constantly doing. We fight with our children to make
them keep their pants on in public. Do you think for a second that
we would hesitate to fight with a complete stranger who was totally asking for
it?
Two. We’re Already Angry
Autism moms carry huge amounts of unprocessed rage just below
the surface. We’re mad at god or the universe or fate or whatever it is
out there that gave our children autism. We are furious at the cards we
were dealt and indignant that such a horrible thing had to happen to our
children. We are angry about the loss of the child we were supposed to
have, and we never truly stop mourning. We’re angry at the doctors who
didn’t catch it early enough and also at the doctors who did. We hold a
grudge against anybody who ever failed us as we tried to make sense of this
chaos, and we’re also furious at ourselves, because we constantly feel like
we’re not doing enough to help and we’re secretly afraid that it might somehow
be our fault in the first place. We are already walking bundles of resentment…do
you want to be the straw that breaks the camel’s back?
One. We’re Sleep Deprived
Some of us haven’t had a good night’s sleep in years. Between the stress,
depression, anxiety, and the kid who wakes up screaming for popsicles at 3
a.m., we’re all beyond exhausted. We’re muddled and short-tempered and
irrational and crazy. Like ax murderer crazy. Like Mel Gibson crazy.
There are all sorts of studies linking sleep deprivation to psychosis and
that would probably hold up in court if I decided to assault you. Keep
that in mind the next time you fail to keep your opinions to yourself, and
beware the autism mom.
In an effort to keep
autism mom vitriol in a nice contained space so everyone can be safe, we invite
moms to use the comment section to vent about the people that piss you
off. Tell us what you said (or what you wished you had said) or rant
away…we’re pleased to be able to offer this public service to keep the rest of
society protected.
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post http://laughingthroughtears.com/2011/10/21/top-five-reasons-you-should-never-piss-off-an-autism-mom/
