"Why? Why do I HAVE to wear something blue?" whined SJ. "Because it is World Autism Day and people are wearing blue today," I told him. "I don't like being autistic," said SJ. "I know you don't. There are a lot of other kids with Autism who have it much worse than you. We are doing this for them," I told him. He stomped off to his room.
SJ doesn't like to wear blue, green or purple. They are "cool" colors and he prefers "warm" colors (red, yellow and orange). I wasn't going to force him to wear blue, but I just wanted to remind him that we were wearing blue today.
When he came back downstairs 10 minutes later, he was in blue. He had on a blue hat, a blue shirt and blue shorts. He even put on his Sketchers that are trimmed in blue when he went outside to play. I was proud of him for participating in something that he didn't really want to do.
SJ never wants to be referred to as "autistic". He will argue with you and say that he doesn't have it. Bob occasionally will use it as a putdown term when SJ is being particularly difficult. We have had MANY discussions about how it is only a small part of who SJ is and that Bob should not make fun of SJ for having it.
SJ knows he is different from Bob and most of his peers, but he tries so hard to fight it. He just wants to fit in. He does a great job with it most days, but some days the "autism monster" is too much and is projected through SJ.
SJ has many friends at school and everyone always is happy to see him. (It would be nice if he was invited over to his friends’ houses more often, but if that is our only complaint we are doing pretty well.)
So for all the kids out there who have PDD, Aspergers or Autism, we are wearing blue for you. We are hoping that the more the word autism gets out into the community the greater the acceptance of these people will be visible. Happy World Autism Day!
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