Autism in April

PUZZLES & CAMO BY SHELLY HUHTANEN

This April, I’m still going to drag out my autism awareness sign and plop it in my yard… I’ll try not to be as callous and put my best foot forward in the hopes of some good information sharing on our usual media channels, but I’m going to put my foot down on one thing.

April is here. Another Autism Awareness Month has arrived. I don’t know why, but it seems I’ve grown  a little callous or, to put it a little more gently, complacent, as each Autism Awareness Month passes. Maybe because I’m slowly learning not to be as naive as I used to be when my son was just diagnosed. I used to actually get excited each
April. I would run to the store early so I could buy as many blue lightbulbs as possible and pass them out to my  friends. I wanted to see how many blue lights I could get in my neighborhood. A friend of mine, who also has a son on the spectrum, gave me a blue autism sign. I would proudly display it in my yard each year and then store it after
the month so I could salvage it for the next year.

I kept telling myself, “This is the month that is going to make a difference.” I would anxiously watch the news on World Autism Day in the hopes of seeing profound programs about autism that would reveal researcher’s conclusions on studies that were currently being conducted. This would be the year that would promise parents an answer to their question, “Why does my child have autism?” To much of my dismay, I haven’t been blown off my couch yet. I’ve seen less coverage of autism or, should I say, less useful coverage on autism. I’ll see a blip once in awhile on what certainly does not cause autism and I’ll read articles and watch news stories about what research
our organizations are spending money on, in an attempt to find a cure or cause of autism.

Granted, I am not a brain surgeon and I’m not a geneticist. I’m only a parent who is trying to do her best and that’s all I’ve ever tried to do. One thing I’m not is gullible. I’ve learned to be more selective of what programs I watch and what articles I read concerning research on the neurological disorder. Facebook could easily be the death of me if I didn’t screen what I read. Research has told us that our children with autism need to eat more broccoli. Yes, money was spent on research to tell us our children need to eat more broccoli. I have been told that mothers who were very sick during pregnancy have a higher risk of having children with autism. Of course, I go back to the time where I had
a bad cold while I was pregnant with my son. I had to shake myself back to reality and think, “Really? Can I turn back time and been a hermit so I wouldn’t have been sick?” Absolutely not. My favorite one is that there is a higher risk if the mother was stressed during pregnancy. Stressed? My husband was in Iraq at the time and wasn’t able to come home until after 15 months. When I was eight months along, our house flooded after our pipes burst at 30 below and I was forced to live in my parent’s guest bedroom until a house on post was available. Thank goodness I gave birth after I moved into our new home. I guess you could say I was stressed, but I don’t think my husband’s unit would
have sent him home because I felt stressed.

You may say, “There are so many organizations out there that are trying to find the cause. They are looking high and low. Stop being so cynical.” I guess you’re right. Maybe I am being cynical, or as I explained before, a little callous. I just can’t help it. Autism is truly a puzzle, a puzzle so complicated that no one can seem to put it all together. The
month of April for me is not only a time for reflection on how hard we need to work to find the answers, but also a
reminder that we still do not know. For now, we’ll just have to say, “I don’t know,” when people ask what causes autism. That’s what I say when people ask me. Some people stare at me, waiting for a better answer. I apologize and say that I wish I had a better one.

You know what? This April I’m still going to put up my blue light. I’m still going to drag out my autism awareness
sign and plop it in my yard. Heck, I might even contact the hospital again to see what articles are going to be written on autism awareness for this month. I promise. I’ll try not to be as callous and put my best foot forward in the hopes of some good information sharing on our usual media channels, but I’m going to put my foot down on one thing. I’m not going to make my son eat too much broccoli.•

This April, I’m still going to drag out my autism awareness sign and plop it in my yard… I’ll try not to be as callous and put my best foot forward in the hopes of some good information sharing on our usual media channels, but I’m going to put my foot down on one thing.

PUZZLES & CAMO
Shelley Huhtanen is an Army wife with two children, one with autism, whose husband is currently stationed at Fort Hood, TX. She is an autism advocate and currently the parent liaison for the Academy for Exceptional Learners.

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