06/21/2015
For those of us in the Autism community going out into public places many times offers significant challenges. Set aside the additional prep time of gathering up things such as emergency meds, fidget toys, pecs book, visual stories for where and what we are doing, additional snacks, noise reducing headphones, and then navigating the actual transition of departure... the list goes on. This is all before we've even left the house!
Once we've left the house depending on how our son is feeling and adapting to the changes dictates the level of experience we all have out in public. More times than not, our son can be loud, get up and walk around the room, scream or yell or script things he has taken in from movies he has seen and has memorized. To an outsider it can appear that we are not parenting our child or that he is merely a misbehaved or spoiled child that is let to do whatever he wants. Nothing could be further from the truth! With this comes many sordid looks and even comments from bystanders whom just don't understand. And while we mostly ignore these things, we still sense them, hear them, and feel them... and it hurts.
So, we've created the Orange Circle A Community Cards to help families and the larger community begin to understand our circumstances. These cards can be discreetly handed to someone whom may be struggling with understanding or upset as to why a disturbance in a restaurant or other public place is occurring. Our hope is that the Orange Circle A will begin to be identified in a larger sense with our mission of Acceptance, Awareness, Action, and Aid. We be offering these out soon to everyone so please stay tuned!
