out and about

Martin is acting like a candidate for small-town mayor. Yesterday, we took a walk and he decided we needed to visit people. We stopped at one couple's house. They were home and invited us in for awhile. We continued our walk to another family's house. They weren't home, but Martin knocked a lot anyway. Then he stopped at a house on our block - the home of an older couple we don't really know - and asked if we could meet them. I expected him to kiss the next baby he saw.

There are ways that the mayor analogy breaks down. At the first couple's house, Martin took off his boots and crawled into their bed while I wasn't looking. At other moments, he ran away from oncoming dogs...really small dogs. So he betrayed some of his odd tendencies. Overall, though, he was so friendly and eager to meet people. He broke down all the stereotypes of people on the spectrum

With moments like these, it's easy for people to meet Martin and have no idea that he's got issues. That's wonderful. But it's also difficult. For instance, I was chatting with a colleague about a local private school. I told him that Martin couldn't go there. He was really surprised. He couldn't believe that the teachers there would have difficulty with Martin. "Well, he is autistic," I said. Of course, my colleague knew this, but at the same time there are many moments when Martin seems to blend in with everybody and who can blame him for forgetting that our family's existence has been totally reshaped by autism.