My Favorite Autism Blogs

It's easy to feel lonely when your child has autism. And sad and angry and just plain tired. But especially lonely, because no matter how you explain what it's like, 99% of all the people in the world just. don't. get it. How could they? Most of them don't even know anyone with autism. Even if it affects a family they know, people with autism can be hard to get to know, and they have a hard time getting to know others. And autism takes so much of a family's emotional resources that there's little time or energy for a social life.

Even those who do get close to people on the spectrum and their families, whether professionals, volunteers, or dedicated friends, get to go home at night. For eight, ten, twelve or more hours a day, it's not their problem. Not that they aren't appreciated and even loved, so long as they remember that their empathy is necessarily limited. When they insist that they really completely understand, they prove that they don't.

So the only people who really get it are others who live with it. I wouldn't want to limit my friendships to only such people, but it's nice to know a few. I like to read their blogs, and have them comment on mine. But I have only a limited amount of time and energy. Reading and commenting on blogs, and writing my own, however therapeutic, have to fit around taking care of GL's needs, not to mention occasionally getting a little sleep and maybe even a little exercise myself. Some blogs and web sites, whether arguing for a particular treatment, or in favor of "acceptance", whether pushing a political agenda as the solution or advocating a complete withdrawal from some nonfunctional system, or just collapsing under the load in a puddle of misery or self-pity, take time and energy I can't afford, and in the end, give nothing in return.

Then there are the exceptions. The people who live this life without despair. Who tell their own day-to-day stories, not sugarcoating anything, but somehow managing to find humor, joy, peace, goodness, faith, hope, love. When I check my blogs, these are the blogs I read first. These are the ones that refill my cup and give me the strength, the grace, really, to keep on giving. I try to give back what little thanks and encouragement I can in comments, but I don't think it's possible to repay them for what they've done for me.

I hope you'll enjoy them, too. If you are affected by autism, I think you'll find them encouraging, inspiring, and sometimes laugh-out-loud funny. If you're not, I think they'll give you a new appreciation for this life, and help you be an encourager to those who live it. And maybe if we spread the word, they'll inspire more blogs like themselves.

autismherd
Big Daddy Autism
Both Hands and a Flashlight
kicking kittens (Don't be put off by the title. It refers to the attitude of some people that finding joy or humor or happiness in the middle of disability is as offensive as kicking kittens. This is a place where people can post positive and funny stories.)
Life Is A Spectrum
On the Spectrum