Subtitle: “Dorothy, there are no ordinary autistics, each and every one are very special in their own way.” – replied the Wizard of Oz
If you’re autistic like me, most of us look for others like ourselves to connect to and relate to, hoping to find that mystical “normalcy” of life as humans.
Each day we’re bombarded with new scientific discoveries, most of the time related to some specific new gene combo that tries to explain why we exist, just like religion does.
My theme for this post really has nothing to do with the latest revelations in science nor the latest news byte by a celebrity mom of an autistic young adult like Toni Braxton who made quite an impact a few weeks ago about her son miraculously being cured of autism and becoming a “social butterfly.”
I actually intended to write a post about her 15 minutes of sensational news because one of the articles by a reputable news source mentioned that she had Lupus, an autoimmune disease that is known to spawn autistic children.
Toni Braxton’s contention was that her teenage son is now cured of autism. He might have overcome some of the more severe aspects of autism, but an autistic is always an autistic and we simply learn how to adjust in order to either fit in or “overcome” some of the more severe aspects such as a language disorder like Developmental Verbal Dyspraxia which I did at the age of 13.
When I read that she had Lupus, an autoimmune disease, I was ready to pounce on that one to continue my posts about the relationship of autoimmune diseases as the “smoking gun” of causes to add to the flurry of ’causes du jour’ of autism.
But tonight that’s not important. What is important to me as an autistic is the magic of ‘music’ as an antidote to a crazy world where I usually feel like ‘an alien from an oval planet’.
As a somewhat ancient autistic, I’ve spent the last sixty plus years trying to navigate a foreign world.
And the one constant in my life that has helped me traverse this foreign maze is the magic of music, both the melodies and often the lyrics as well.
Many of us use other tools to cope with life such as connecting with others on Facebook to either share our stories or ask questions from others on how they handle being an alien, and I’m often one of them. And at other times we look for the stories of other autistics in order to identify and formulate a justification for our existence.
In essence, we’re looking for a reason to love ourselves as we are, a human being with what is referred to as neurodiverse brain that appears different to “normal” earthlings.
I have finally past that stage and I’ve accepted myself as anything but “ordinary”. I have learned to love myself as I am, and to be grateful to nature, genetics, my parents, and to God, if he or she exists, that I was created this way, and I do as much as possible to take advantage of my autistic gifts which are bountiful.
If you happen to read this post and you are autistic like me, I pray that you will reach that stage in life where you no longer question why you exist nor wish that your were “normal”, and relish in the thought that you were born different, anything but ordinary, and make the most of your autistic talents which often become more apparent as you grow older.
The Mind of an Autistic Savant 