A Story Told from the Heart

Finding the woman nearly my same age made me think back more than 30 years ago when I did my graduate work with autistic children and how little we understood of autism then. Kids with all sorts of unidentified and unclassified issues were lumped together with kids all over the autism spectrum. Back then, there was no spectrum. Just a throw-away term for all the kids who were impossible to rein into conforming with mainstream educational and societal expectations. 

Hearing this one woman’s fight for a fair, non-abusive education for her son back then, my refusal alongside others against the use of cattle prods as a form of punishment for bad behavior and fight to remove it makes me appreciate how far we’ve come and how much parents with autistic children today owe to so many parents and professionals who never stopped and never will stop fighting for equal rights for all children.

As the GoDaddy helper methodically goes through the steps needed to do what I want to do to, I hug myself, giddy that PlotWriMo: Revise Your Novel in a Month has a permanent place and is so much better thanks to all Jill’s contributions including concept and voice, every word perfect and revision from an industry insider’s point of view.

Giddy must be in the airwaves between us because the helper’s voice seems almost to flutter in anticipation of next week meeting again for the first time her first and true love after a more than 40-year separation. Communicating in the myriad of non-same place and same time avenues available today, she and her beloved found that rather than follow the conventional path they’d each chased separated, the unconventional path they’d stumbled upon had made them more of who they were at 17 years old.

Do you remember who you were before the world told you who you should be?

Can you imagine living with a sense of freedom and abandon with lessons learned and abilities integrated and minus all that no longer serves you? Minus the shoulds, embracing your highest self.