I "Borrowed" this

from http://adiaryofamom.wordpress.com/.  Her blogs have saved me on more the one occasion and have taught me so much on how to deal with this thing we call autism.

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If you’re on Twitter, you may have noticed something of a phenomenon lately. Over the last week or so, a community has begun to form. Some brilliant soul (if you know her / him / them please leave details in the comments!) began to use the hash tag #YouMightBeAnAutismParentIf .. and it caught on. Like really caught on.

Parents of children with autism are connecting with one another around the hash tag. They’re sharing their stories – 140 characters at a time, they’re offering us all windows into their family’s celebrations, their heart-breaks, and above all, their overwhelming love for their kids.

It’s a pretty amazing thing.


I both love and hate reading the various tweets. I love them because they remind me that we’re not alone. I hate them because .. well, they remind me that we’re not alone.

The following are some of the tweets that I’ve posted there over the past few days.

If you see yourself in any of them, come on over and join the conversation.


@diaryofamom jess

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#youmightbeanautismparentif you find yourself celebrating and heartbroken – at the same time and for the exact same reason.

#youmightbeanautismparentif you work and pray for the day that you can finally shut the hell up because your child can self-advocate.

#YouMightBeAnAutismParentIf you’ve listened in vain for the hoofbeats and then remembered – we ARE the cavalry.

#YouMightBeAnAutismParentIf you’ve asked a doctor if every degree came with a crystal ball, or just theirs.

#YouMightBeAnAutismParentIf you’ve spent a lot of time debating ‘has autism’ vs ‘autistic’ and still feel comfortable with neither.

#youmightbeanautismparentif you stop and think about the implications of anything you type here – other parents, indiv’s w autism, NT public

#YouMightBeAnAutismParentIf you are desperately grateful for a community whose very existence you curse.

#youmightbeanautismparentif letting your autistic child pick up the phone when telemarketers call just feels right.

#youmightbeanautismparentif the “F word” in your house is FLEXIBLE.

#youmightbeanautismparentif you’re pretty damn impressed with yourself for not crying until AFTER the meeting.

#YouMightBeAnAutismParentIf you know every word to every (fill in the blank) movie ever made.

#youmightbeanautismparentif you have lost your ability to stomach pretense in any form.

#youmightbeanautismparentif you’re sitting alone w your kid in her room while the whole family is gathered downstairs for thanksgiving.

#youmightbeanautismparentif you’re trying really hard to be thankful 2day, but your heart breaking for your kiddo is making it awfully tough