Just when you think everything is cruising along . All the t;s are crossed i;s dotted not even a thought to the p;s and q;s .
I have been looking for some time now for a club or group my son could join ,one that caters for teenagers on the spectrum . I have noticed in the past how he visibly relaxes when he knows he will be joining other children who face the same challenges as he does. He has a good friend who is also ASD (high functioning ) and they enjoy spending time together . Naturally they have an unspoken understanding of one another ,an understanding neither could share with some one of their own age, not on the spectrum .
For some reason the clubs for teenage autistic children start at age 15 , somebody made that decision it would seem without actually asking anybody who had an autistic 13 or 14 year old . Hard enough as it is to be autistic and a teenager , but to be lumped in with children younger than yourself . I am sure a person is going to start to feel like a spare part .
As it was I found a club that I thought he would like to join . So at the appropriate moment I suggested to my son that it might be a good idea or maybe even a great idea to join said club .
' Oh no ' came the reply . ' There is no way I am joining any club ' he said adamantly .
' I want to be seen as a normal boy I don't want to join some autistic club ' .
' Well ' I said ' First of all let me tell you there is no such thing as normal ' then after taking a deep breath and digesting what he had just told me .
I said . ' That is fine , no problem , if you don't want to then you certainly don't have to '.
For a moment I found myself longing for the days when he was younger when it was so much simpler , with none of the teenage angst to contend with . One thing was certain he had made it very clear to me how he was feeling at this stage of his development . I spent a little time trying to explain my understanding of what normal is and how in fact there really is no such thing , every living human has some quirk or slightly eccentric view of the world . If we could read the thoughts of our fellow passengers on the bus of a morning , we would I am sure be most surprised and perhaps a little overwhelmed by what we were discovering about the ''normal human condition ''.
My response to his reaction , was I felt clumsy , but I did my level best to take the opportunity to help him understand that basically . ' It takes all sorts to make a world ' as my Grandma used to say .
