Labels or Windows BY KENDRA ROGERS, MS - EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Incredible concentration and perfectionism always
Attachment to objects--note the hammer-like branch
Stoicism at two
W
hen I think back to when my son received his autism diagnosis, I recall a myriad of feelings. First, I hesitated about getting a diagnosis because of the stigma surrounding such labels. I knew my son was peculiar and I excused his mannerisms as quirky but nothing to worry about. However, when he didn’t outgrow the meltdowns he had when he felt like his world was exploding, I realized we needed help. We went to get his label. At least, that’s how I felt some people looked at it. I cannot count the number of times I justified my son’s autism to people who said hurtful things like “Why label him?” and “Everyone is a little autistic.” It made
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February 2024
me think that I was incapable of raising my son without a diagnosis or that I was excusing his behavioral difficulties through the diagnosis. I imagine I am not the only one for whom these questions and feelings raged. I threw myself into research to understand my son. I felt like with the diagnosis, I had a direction. I could find material that would help me support my son’s development, finally. I had been grasping at straws before getting a diagnosis. Even years later, though, people still challenge me regarding whether my son really needed a label. Even though he has low support needs and does well much of the time, I realized that getting
his diagnosis young meant that he would walk through more of his life with some slight understanding from those around him. My husband, who received his autism diagnosis as an adult, spent the first 38 years of his life floundering, masking, and generally confused about his place in the world. Helping my son find his place as a child because I understood what to look for and how to help him means that he won’t go through life trying to fit into round holes as a square peg. The number of adults who are now learning that their brains have always operated differently is staggering. These adults are finally learning why they had tumultuous childhoods.
