Cure?

So I am going to start this by saying these are my beliefs, my wishes, my thoughts. There is no political, biblical or any other "-cal" word that is going into this post, so please respect that. 

I was talking to a lady the other day and she told me she would pray for a cure for Cam's Autism. It struck me funny, I of course didn't say anything to her but thank you. But, I walked away with a thought in my head, do I really want a cure? Then I was reading a post a fellow AS mom wrote asking her followers if they wanted a cure for their child, which just started the wheels in my head turning even more. Scary thought I know but it does happen every so often. I was doing some things for our Autism walk today, which I am so very passionate about and it reminded me of a question a friend asked me awhile back, why are you walking? Now she is a very smart woman and her question wasn't because she didn't understand that Cam in fact has Autism but she was asking because she wanted to know do I want a cure and is that my reason for walking. 

The answer is no, I don't want a cure. Now some of you might think I am crazy for my answer, or I should crazier than you already think I am. But, I don't want a cure for Cam's Autism. Why would I want a cure for something that makes him...him? He is a unique, amazing, funny, smart and inquisitive little boy. He can tell me anything I would ever want to know about pretty much any animal on the planet and any dinosaur that ever lived. He has a youth in him that most children at his age don't have any more and it makes us able to enjoy life more each day because of it. Why would I want to look at him and tell him I don't want you to be you...I want to cure you? 

Yes, he has horrible struggles in life but these struggles are making him a stronger person and they are making us as a family stronger. But, can you honestly say that everyone else walks through life without struggles? No, not the same struggles, his are worse than most. But, there are also people out there struggling with life threatening illnesses, struggling to put a roof over their family's head, those are struggles that are far worse than my son having Autism. Can you look in the mirror and say you're accepting of people's differences? The answer to that question for me until I had Cam was no. I was not accepting of people's differences. I used to judge pretty much everyone in some capacity. I especially judged every parent when their child was screaming bloody murder and having a meltdown. I would ALWAYS say that is NEVER EVER going to be my child. I am thankful for Cam's Autism because it has taught me to not judge others paths, for we are all on different ones. I believe because of his Autism that he has the amazing ability to not judge anyone else, because he already knows what it is like to be different.

What do I wish for? Why do I walk or talk about his Autism all the time? I wish for acceptance of his differences. I wish for a society that didn't want to cure him but wanted to learn how to understand him. I wish that there was a cure for people's ignorance and not just when it came to Autism. Do I want to know why more children are being diagnosed with Autism? Absolutely! 1 in 88 children are diagnosed with Autism, that is a pretty scary statistic to read. 1 in 54 of those are boys, 1 in 54 of those is Cam. So, yes I would like to know why more children are being diagnosed. This is where I always hear people's opinions. The second they hear Cam has Autism they want to know my opinion of why he has Autism. The only thing I can tell you is that I have done more research, gone to listen to more speakers and talked to more doctors than most people have when it comes to this topic and I have my own beliefs. But to me that is what is wonderful about life, that we can all have different opinions. But, it doesn't make any of us right or wrong. I don't want a cure for Autism because I believe each child on the spectrum is a beautiful individual, an amazing piece to our puzzle. They all teach us about a life through different sets of eyes. Cam makes me see a world that I would have never knew existed if it weren't for his Autism.

As Temple Grandin said “If I could snap my fingers and be nonautistic, I would not. Autism is part of what I am.”