Autism not Autistic Gearing Up -- a Guest Columnist

I don’t have the time… well, sufficient motivation to create and maintain my own blog, so I’m benefiting from the kindness of a friend and glomming onto his.

Now, for my inaugural offering, I want to introduce you to a concept not just close to my heart, but seared into it like a brand. I am the father of a handsome, bright and sweet 13-year-old boy who has high-functioning autism.

The point here is best illustrated by an example. If you had cancer, would you like to be known as “cancerous,” or would you want to be described as having cancer? My son isn’t autistic, he has autism. I’m impatient with verbal shortcuts when it comes to my son.

Unlike a label, He has is a description that leaves his humanity intact, reminds all that he is capable of a lot and has unknown potential in his life. He isn’t doomed in any way.

Trust me when I say I am not a bleeding-heart liberal driven by emotion, always concerned about PC talk or not hurting some minority’s feelings. I’m a moderate on all that, which makes me a Republican. But with 1 in each 166 kids in the U.S. now diagnosed with a condition on the autism spectrum, we all better get with the program.