Remind me again why I love you?

My Bratty girl had one of her 2am Fiestas last night. This time she took exception to me having a quilt and followed me from her room to mine while I tried to snuggle up and go back to sleep.
In the end I gave up and came downstairs to read blogs and wait for Mr Melatonin to work his magic upstairs. Better to be learning something than trying to sleep and resenting the small person who was stopping me. She was in a deep sleep again by 4 am so I was able to retire once more.
This morning I paid a visit to Casdok and her blog "Mother of Shrek" to see what other commenters had said after I had read it last night. And then for a change I decided to read her other blog "Faces of Autism" . I'm so glad as it is full of photographs of children and young adults who are on the spectrum, with testimonials from the people who love them.
These testimonials celebrate what makes their child special, why difference is not something to be hated or feared (a constant theme of Casdok's blogging) and it really helped to heal me.
You see the other reason I have lost sleep recently is that I went to one of those "Bio-med Cure Autism" talks on Saturday, and it really upset me to see how caught up people can get in trying to eradicate a condition that is fundamentally a part of who their children are.
And if it doesn't work (there are no comparative empirical studies to demonstrate that it will) Will they end up hating their child, as much as they hate the autism?
It reminded me of those passionate but pedantic ABA evangelists saying you must eradicate every "symptom" of your child's autism including their little stims and quirks which are just part of the child's personality really.
As you know, I believe in ABA. It is the only evidence based science for informing the management of autism and the symptoms that prevent our children from joining our world.
But I also believe that at the core of that is giving the child a choice of "doing things their way" when they want to. Giving the skills to communicate and interact with us when they need to, but allowing them to be who they are when they choose.
I do not believe in criticising anyone who finds that another method of education and therapy works with their child, and is comfortable with that.
I'm quite happy with listening to someone who says this is what works for me, and if you want to know more about it, I can tell you My Experience.
But I don't like to be told that this the One True Gospel and that anyone who does not follow is negligent.
My son who is very verbal, has that Aspergersey tendency to be very focused on what he is interested in, and in conversation can be limited to accepting nothing else, but his own view.
I find it ironic that often in these parent meetings and "talks" there are adults who are very much in that spectrum. They refuse to even consider that different people have different levels of acceptance of autism, and how to achieve the best quality of life for themselves and their child.
And in my head I am always saying "Physician- Cure Thyself"
So Like Cas, I celebrate difference daily. I also realise that the experience of having kids like mine has made me a better person that I was.
And I remember why I love them.
xx

This post first appeared on my other blog this morning. Hey, It's my birthday, do you really think I am going to write two posts in one day?

(as for which birthday, take the number 4 and the letter O and rearrange them)