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The Gifts of Autism
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"When we change the way we look at things, the things we look at change."
Hello and welcome!
My name is Lori Shayew, the creator of The Gifts of Autism.
What if the autistic state of mind and way of viewing the world represents, not a defect that we must correct, but an evolutionary step up? What if millions of autistic individuals are here to show us neuro-typicals a different way, a way of living that can potentially be more spiritually satisfying, more deeply connected, more co-creative and profoundly meaningful than we can imagine?
Here's a blurb from my upcoming book entitled, "The Gifts of Autism" . . .
"I can no longer see Autism as a disability. My perception has evolved. I now know that the label of Autism is here with us in such great numbers as a gift. If we are willing to look, our autistic brothers and sisters can give us a glimpse into our future - into a possible world where we are not so driven by our personalities and egos. We might see a world of beauty, connection and artistry, rather than our world of self-consciousness and commerce. We might see the possibility of Spiritual communication with each other, of reverence for each moment, of the healing power of unconditional love.
When we open ourselves to seeing the gifts that autism brings we can see that some are freely given. In other words these gifts are qualities that simply seem to emanate naturally from the Spirit of the autistic person and tend to shift the energies of the people around them.
Other gifts require more effort from us. Finding these gifts requires us to confront our expectations and judgments and release them. These gifts are a result of the work that we, as parents, teachers and friends of autistics do as we continue to dig deeper and deeper inside ourselves to find our loving - even when we don't feel it returned in the usual ways, our ability to be accepting - even when our child's behavior is disturbing, our peace in the face of apparent disability, our capacity for connection beyond convention and our joy - even when life in the 'real world' seems insurmountably difficult.
These gifts are amazing enough, but there is more that Autism brings to us. As our society and medical and educational systems grapple with the increasing numbers of Autistic individuals, we are being challenged to adopt new attitudes, to search for new possibilities and to look with new eyes at the ways in which we treat each other, the ego-based expectations we hold in all areas of life, our values and what it means to have a human life.
Autism's greatest gift may be its obstinacy. As we are presented with children who don't develop in the way we expect, and indeed, seem to be adamant in their refusal to do so, we must re-evaluate our ideas and change our thinking. When we cannot rely on our usual methods of communication we must look for new ones. When our entrenched educational system becomes irrelevant to such a large proportion of the children it is meant to serve, the only intelligent course of action is to look carefully at what it means to be educated.
If we are willing to look without preconceived judgment, then the autistic has done his or her work and we can begin to build the bridges between that other world and the world we know. We can bring the best qualities of that world into ours and allow the autistic child or adult to find their way to bridge into our world too. " ®
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