Lately I've been continuing to deal with the reality that my daughter almost certainly fits the criteria for autism spectrum disorder. It's hard to say because I suppose she would fit in the "high functioning" classification, if that is even a thing anymore.
Anyway...I'm trying to find the right path for us, and probably my biggest fear is that if my daughter gets these "labels," then expectations will lower across the board, including her own expectations of herself.
Adding to the stress is the awareness that she gets her tendencies from me, leaving me feeling confused about myself, my life, my childhood, my problems, etc.
I find myself really pissed at Asa and Priscilla for putting Abbie out there as some kind of representative of autism, when in reality what she represents is severe ID, with severe autism secondary to that (or at least that's what it seems to me.) The name of the channel, "FatheringAutism", the constant use of hashtags like "#AutismPrincess", the catchphrases including "real autism"....the entire channel is based on this idea that, "This is what autism is like. This is what it's like when you have a child with autism." Any person who watches this channel is going to think that autism is pretty dreadful and that a person with autism is to be pitied. The Maasses pretend to send a positive message, but what they actually
show is negative.
I honestly don't want my daughter to have the same label as Abbie, and that's not just because of my fragile ego or something--it's because she is not like Abbie. I honestly don't see her resembling Abbie in any meaningful way. My daughter is fully verbal and has been progressing in school on pace. She can hold a conversation, she can carry out self-care tasks, she can read, she can write, she can follow directions, she can tell stories, she can play pretend, she can discuss the future and ask questions etc etc. She's potty trained, she is not destructive, and she can go pretty much anywhere in any situation and not start making loud noises or crying or rocking or flailing.
But for reasons which I won't go into to not make this even longer, she almost certainly falls in the category of autism spectrum disorder. It honestly doesn't make any sense to me to put her next to Abbie and say, "These people have the same thing." It honestly feels like a frightening disservice to my daughter to go along with that. Abbie has severe, obvious issues. My daughter has issues, but it's so subtle it passes as idiosyncrasies, quirks or just her personality. Between "normal" kids and Abbie, my daughter more closely resembles "normal" kids, but I'm supposed to go along with this idea that she's autistic, even though she has
nothing in common with this supposed representative of autism? The idea doesn't feel so bizarre when I compare her to people like those on
Love on the Spectrum, which I consider a far more interesting, inspiring and respectful show about autism.
Putting Abbie out there as somehow "Autism Itself" is like doing a channel about your child's struggle with a speech impediment while barely mentioning that it's due to cerebral palsy--kind of important information. Or talking about your kid's struggles to read without mentioning that they're mostly blind.
Okay, needed to get that off my chest, thank you!