How Other People Impact Ashley and Autism

I have concentrated on the facts and emotions of autism for this awareness month. So for my last “awareness” blog, I want to talk about other people and their reaction to autism. There seems to be 3 main reactions – There are the amazing people who choose to uplift and love people with autism or any special need for that matter. These are people that choose to love and accept our kids. They show them respect and dignity and make their life better by participating in their life whether it be in small ways or large active roles. I can think of strangers who have taken the time to ask questions or speak to us. Teachers, who have dedicated their personal time and energy to go beyond the call of duty. There are friends and family that have treated Ashley with such kindness. To those people I want to say thank you. You are a blessing in our lives and to our kids. You will never know how much it means to us to have you walking with us and choosing to help our kids. There are people who just choose to ignore them, and not participate in their lives. They act like special needs people are not really people. They may not be actively mean, but they are also not helping those kids. Some people just may not know a child with special needs, so they do not know how to react. But to those of you that have someone with special needs in your family or social circle, but are doing nothing you are hurting that child and that family. That family and child need your support. You have no idea how much your indifference hurts us. That child needs all the love he or she can get. I think the Bible says it better than I ever could – ³⁴ “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. ³⁵ For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, ³⁶ I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ ³⁷ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸ When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? ³⁹ When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ ⁴⁰ “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ ⁴¹ “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. ⁴² For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, ⁴³ I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’ ⁴⁴ “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ ⁴⁵ “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ ⁴⁶ “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life. ” Matthew 25:34-46 Then there are the people that actively choose to abuse special needs people. They treat them with contempt. They get impatient, angry, and annoyed. They hurt the most defenseless people in society. To make it even worse, a lot of these abusive people are in positions where they work with special needs people. They are people who we think we can trust our children with, until we find out, often too late, that we really can’t. I think the verses above apply to this group of people as well, but we could probably add - 6 “But whoever causes the downfall of one of these little ones who believe in Me—it would be better for him if a heavy millstone[a] were hung around his neck and he were drowned in the depths of the sea! Matthew 18:6 How you treat someone with special needs says a lot about your character and morals. These people cannot stand up for themselves or take care of themselves. They already struggle enough in life, the least we can do is surround them with love and kindness. I believe there is truly no more rewarding experience in life than to participate in the life of one of these people. They deserve the same respect and dignity as everyone else. If you believe my daughter or some of these other children are not good enough, I’m certain that says a lot more about you than them. My daughter, Ashley, has been blessed to have many amazing people in her life. I am honored to know these people. But she has also been treated badly or neglected and ignored by people as well. As Christians we choose to forgive those people and their ignorance. But as her family it deeply hurts us. Like Created In His Image on Facebook originally posted April 2012