I'm sure I will catch a little flack for this blog I am about to write, but seriously this gets irritating and I need to vent. So here it goes.

I can not stand when parents of extremely high functioning, verbal kids try to tell parents of children with Moderate-SEVERE Autism, non verbal etc what to do. What treatment, what diet, tell us how we should feel about Autism! NEWSFLASH we are all living a different journey. Similar yes, but so completely different. Now before I go any further I am NOT saying children with HF ASD don't have their frustrations or struggles. They do, they are AMAZING, they are hardworking and they are wonderful.

My issues are when a parent of a HF kid try to tell me how to handle my severely Autistic child. No, just no. Sorry but we are different playing fields OK. Sorry, but I am just being honest and I know I am not the only one in the severe end of AutismLand who feels this way. I get sick of all the rainbow and butterflies constantly, with no acknowledgment of the dark stuff, the hard stuff, the heartbreaking stuff. The 25 year old man living with his parents unable to communicate at all, still in a diaper, waking in the night hitting him self. The boy whose mother or father must lay on top of to keep their child from hurting them self. The child who has to go to respite overnight programs, the children living part time in clinics. The adults in group homes after their parents pass. The children unable to speak, the children who don't sleep, the children who have no friends, the ones who get abused but cannot tell anyone. The children who wander off and are found days or weeks later DEAD! The children and adults who cannot speak, can not function alone. When you experience the severe side of autism and you have someone telling you how amazing and wonderful it is, or them telling you its as simple as a diet change. Arguing with you over a "cure" or labels. Seriously its ridiculous! Why is it so hard for people to accept that these two worlds are in the same place but they are light years apart. What one family goes through may not be nearly as rough as what another family goes through. When parents try everything under the sun and still see no progress it is insulting to have someone stroll in and say its as simple as this or that or that you haven't tried hard enough.

Autism is a spectrum, no two are alike. Why can't we respect each other? You don't think autism needs a cure? Great, but don't be so cruel because the parent of a child who constantly escapes, hurts themselves, can't function, or doesn't communicate AT ALL disagrees with you. Autism has a light side and a dark side, can't we just agree on that and respect that? When non verbal individuals learn to communicate either verbally or via alternative communication and they cry out about the pain, and the frustrations they have, the feeling prisoner to their own body and mind can't we respect THAT? Autism is always shown as this wonderful land of fluffy clouds and rainbows where there is only wonder and amazement but that is not the case, autism can also be a bitch! Its time to acknowledge the darker side of Autism and advocate for those who have been imprisoned there, those who fight every day to get to the lighter side of the Autism rainbow but remain stuck, with no support, and no answers. We need to stop down playing Autism.