Here is a scenario I have found myself in many times, I tell someone my son is autistic and very quickly they jump to saying something like this "my friend has a child with autism and he does great. He graduated high school and even has a job" or "some kids with autism grow up to be just fine! They even get jobs."
This is a fairly common response meant in a reaffirming positive way but honestly, it gets under my skin a little bit. From day one of his diagnosis I have heard "he might" and that has been stated numerous times since. Friends, family, advocates, therapists, even strangers in quick conversation and the list goes on how many people associate the word autism with "he might." "He might even speak one day." was the very first one I heard and he speaks now. The first time I heard my child say the right words at the right time the "he might" left me and the "he wills" began. This might shock people but autism doesn't make me think he won't succeed. It will be a challenge for him to get there but I have never seen my son quit or have any kind of concept he can't do something. People tend to have high hopes my son will grow up to be a functioning member of society but guess what...my hopes for my child are bigger than that, just as the day he was born and a diagnosis never changed that. I don't have expectations but hope is a necessity and I hope for much more than people think.
I hope he encounters supportive, kind, and patient educators who grasp his potential while he is working to graduate high school. I hope he never thinks because he has autism he can't go to college or strive for far more than what people expect of him. I hope he learns to drive a car and I cry the first time he pulls out of the driveway without me. I hope he makes friends he has strong bonds with to ride in that car with him and they make good choices. I hope he wants to be active in sports and I hope he encounters programs that allow him to. I hope he discovers what he loves to do and finds a way to do it the rest of his life. I hope he falls in love with someone who cherishes him and doesn't break his heart. I hope he sees himself as far more than autism and he encounters people who see that too.
I am an autism mom and my hopes are no different than other moms and dads. Some people along this journey might think my hopes for him are less or limited to graduating high school and getting a job but like other parents my hopes for him are far more than that. Hopefully he will feel the same way and know he is capable of much more than what people will assume he is limited to. One question no one has ever asked me is "what does he want to be when he grows up?" I would say judging by his interests, a firefighter or an astronaut but I certainly know he doesn't want to be someone with autism who somehow graduated high school and somehow got a job. I also know kids with autism want people to believe in them, like all kids do.
