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This is my daughter Meaghan, doing what she loves most. At thetime this picture was taken she was twelve years old. She is nowseventeen.
PREFACE
Raising and teaching a child with autism is an exhaustingbusiness, but it can also be exhilarating. In some ways it isanalogous to climbing a mountain. There is a lot of hard work,struggle, frustration and fatigue as you make your way up thesteep, slippery slope. Sometimes the ascent is smooth, but mostof the time the terrain is rough and the pitfalls are many.When you reach plateaus along the way -- where progress levelsoff despite your most determined effort -- you sometimes feel youwant to throw in the towel. But you keep going because you knowthat you can’t turn back without sacrificing all the ground you’vealready covered. And you think that, if only you can get a littlehigher, the view will be that much better. So you keep trudgingup the trail, one small step at a time, and at some point along theway you discover that the higher you go, the easier it becomes.It becomes easier because you learn to accept what you cannotchange. It becomes easier because the sensory sensitivities thatmade your child’s early years such hell generally diminish withtime and become less of an impediment to their learning. Itbecomes easier because you come to terms with what is possibleand what isn’t... and learn to focus on the positive.
Every year the prognosis for children with autism improvesas knowledge about the syndrome increases
. I don’t yetknow what the summit will hold for my daughter, because I refuseto place any limitations on her potential.Where she goes from this point on depends in large part upon theeducational, medical, social and vocational services I am able toattain for her. How high she climbs also depends on whether thedual obstacles of society’s (and our government's) indifferenceand the medical establishment's lack of serious research intoautism can be overcome in time to make a difference for her.Even if a cure for autism is never found, education and treatment
should be more accessible and affordable, so that those of us wholove and care for individuals with autism are not left to make ourway alone.
Above all, the basic facts about this disordermust be disseminated, the myths and stereotypesdispelled
. My hope is that a day will come, in the not too distantfuture, when children and adults with autism will be betterunderstood and welcomed into the mainstream.If this book helps in any way to broaden the understanding andacceptance of this fascinating, devastating yet far from hopelessaffliction, than I will know that there is indeed a reason that I wasentrusted with the burden and responsibility of raising such anextraordinary child.
Gail Buckley
December, 2003
I dedicate this book to my beautiful, out of the ordinary daughterMeaghan, to my witty, bright, extraordinary son, Michael, and tomy wonderful, devoted husband Brian, who makes me laughwhen I need it most, and without whose love and support I wouldnot have had the opportunity to write this book in the first place.
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