In exasperation: “Hey H, I already asked you to do this!”
“I didn’t hear you…”
“I know… that is why I am mad!”
“I can’t hear you because I am not hearing you.” (pause) “I didn’t hear you because I didn’t hear you. You can’t be mad at me for that… I didn’t hear you!”
(Craig and I looked at each other. My eyebrow was raised in what I imagine to be my best Spock impression.)
“H, you are right! That is the most profoundly logical thing imaginable…”
(Good-natured smirks all around, accompanied by a well-deserved apology and acknowledgment to H of the validity of his stance and his right of advocacy.)
Craig and I agreed that this is a good reminder from our kid!
H was able to gently nudge us to consider things from a slightly different angle…
Things that should be obvious…
Things that we do understand, but can lose sight of in the day-to-day bustle of life…
Lead on young advocate!!
H is… and always will be… my teacher!
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30 Days of Autism is a project designed to fight stigma, promote civil rights, and increase understanding and acceptance for those who process and experience the world differently.
© Leah Kelley, Thirty Days of Autism, (2013)
I often don’t hear when people are directing their voices at me unless they actually address me by name.
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