Over the last few years I have become increasingly aware of autism and it's effects on the family. Once only a word I heard at conferences it now gained greater importance to me as several of my friends' children were diagnosed with the disorder. They would call me and confide their fears and anger and confusion. We would sit and talk over coffee and they would share what they learned from their doctor or from an article they read or a conference they attended. As they learned, so did I. I was inspired to start researching autism for myself. What I discovered shocked me. I saw myself and my childhood friends in the behaviors attributed to and found mostly in people on the autistic spectrum. I began to understand that all my friends and I were living somewhere on the spectrum but were never diagnosed. There is a lot more awareness towards autism today and tools for managing the disorder than there were in the 70s and 80s. This is a good thing.
