The Stages of Discovery and Diagnosis I guess you could call this whole site my campaign as well as my mission. When Mitchell was diagnosed as autistic I quickly became aware of just how little awareness there is about autism. I've explained how I embarked upon a journey to find out as much as I could and then it hit me, I have to tell everyone else! I have to be my son's voice and make sure everyone knows what it is and how it's not a death sentence or the end of the person's life. I learned from reading what autistic adults - some nonverbal themselves - think, feel and experience. It broke my heart to think of Mitch one day being so upset that people thought he shouldn't exist, or that what was intrinsically a part of him was wrong and needed to be cured. Along my journey to this point I realized that I had gone through steps during my discovery of these facts, and they became almost as important to me as that little angel face - the one on the logo, the one drawn by my special angel.

LOVE - I loved my child unconditionally from the moment I knew I was pregnant. I knew that come girl or boy, perfect or not I would love this child like the gift I knew him to be. PATIENCE - I knew Mitchell was different, I was patient with him like I'd never been with any other person before him. They say when you have a baby you get patience in the deal, I got a double dose - and needed it! TOLERANCE - My son had some bad behaviors, when the patience wore thin I became tolerant - I had to - the deal was unconditional remember? UNDERSTANDING - After some time you begin to realize that there is something real different, like you've never experienced before with another child. You begin to understand just how deep the differences go - and then you understand it to be autism. DEDICATION - Once you know what you're facing, you dedicate yourself to your child. You were dedicated before, as a mom, but now you're more than a mother to this child. You are advocate - and that means you fight when necessary, you listen, you DO WHATEVER IT TAKES to get what your child needs to become the best he can be - no matter what THAT turns out to be. EDUCATION - Now you're thirsty, you want to know everything there is to know about autism - but guess what - everyone else wants to know the same thing. Even the "professionals", even the doctors that understand it less than the teachers. You educate yourself, and experience is the best teacher. KNOWLEDGE - You begin to know things that only other parents and autistic people know. The researchers, doctors, specialists of all kinds "know", but the one's who know the most have been touched directly by autism. Some of them became who they are because of it. POWER - With knowledge comes power - it's just as simple as that. What that power is applied to is up to you. ACCEPTANCE - I consider all of the above my road to acceptance. The love, patience and tolerance was a given - this is my child. But once I understood, dedicated myself to the situation, educated myself on the subject - gained knowledge. I now had the power to accept . . . accept what? I'll tell you . . . TRUTH - Accept the truth of your situation, don't expect a miracle cure - diseases can be cured, WHO YOUR CHILD IS - CAN'T AND SHOULDN'T BE CURED. BEAUTY - Once you have all of the above, I believe you can now see the beauty of your child. Autism comes in many forms, it is a spectrum because thats how intricate the symptoms. With all of the above you can find the path of learning for your child. Once you find the path you can curb the inappropriate behaviors, the things that can cause harm to your child. You can learn to communicate in whatever form that takes - BUILD A BRIDGE - don't expect your child to be just like you because it's not going to happen. It's like Eliza Doolittle, you can mask what's real, you can fool yourself and other people. But it will never be gone because it runs too deep. If you take away the autism you have a different person because that thing - "autism" - affects how information is received, absorbed, processed and that is what makes a person who they are. They can either see the world as a harsh and unforgiving place that doesn't understand them or want them to exist - or they can experience that "thing" you thought in the beginning, that you would love that child UNCONDITIONALLY.