I was contacted by someone about their autistic son's art. Happy to help, I went to check out the website.

" X was diagnosed with autism at 2 1/2 years old. It literally shattered any dreams we had of the future we pictured for him, sports, girlfriends, college, marriage."

If this is how you think about autism, how you write about your child on the internet. Please never contact me. I don't want to read this kind of thing. It's too early for this crap.

Maybe we should rebrand ourselves as Shatterers of Dreams

Also, some autistic folks do all those things, others don’t. It doesn’t matter if you’re an astrophysicist or not able to work. If you’re married or single. None of these things are essential. Live your best life, not the life your parents want.

I hate this neurotypical view that you must achieve certain things in your life for it to be a ‘good’ life.

Fuck that.

My life improved greatly when I abandoned expectations and put my efforts into making a happy life full of rainbows and cats.

Also, having feelings about how your kid’s life might be more difficult than others is not the same as shouting to the internet that your dreams shattered because your kid isn’t the kid you wanted.