I couldn’t come up with ten, so we’ll have to make do with a Top 5 list of the ways in which AUTISM ROCKS!

5) You get a really cool binder from the Autism Clinic, complete with printed dividers and a sheet to hold business cards. You can impress your friends, or at least the bureaucrats you may meet. Who am I kidding? It’s autism. You WILL meet bureaucrats.  And your best weapon in keeping the wheels of the system lubricated is not an envelope full of unmarked bills, it is an organized binder. Extra points if you get your child’s birth certificate into a plastic sheet cover.

4) The money — $500 per month from the BC Government to be applied to therapy. A disability tax credit AND the school gets $16,000 worth of funding for special assistance. It’s not enough. But at least it’s something.

3) Instant fame for being kicked out of Smitty’s Restaurants, removed from airplanes, or voted out of classrooms.

2) Gets you off the Titanic! I recently learned that my great-great grandparents had tickets to take the whole family over on the Titanic. One of their sons pitched such a fit upon seeing the ship, that the family was not allowed to board the vessel. In retrospect, we think this boy may have been autistic (not just because of this episode, but this one is a big clue). Makes sense doesn’t it? Something strange and large, way outside of his known environment. Can you imagine what would have happened to the family had they got on the boat? If they had that much trouble getting him on to the big boat, can you imagine what it would have been like trying to get him on to a lifeboat? So, without autism, I wouldn’t be here.

1) And the top reason why autism rocks? Front of the line at Disneyland!

Maybe you can help me come up with another 5. Go!