The Loneliness of Autism

A mother speaks. From Finding Cooper's Voice:

For me autism is frustrating. And exhausting. And heartbreaking. And dreadfully hopeful. And painful. And above all a process. A slow process that crawls along with glimpses of the future. Autism is expensive. And SO unbelievably time consuming. Autism can take your time. It can suck up hours after hours of time.There are so many parts that go into parenting a special needs baby. And it’s different for everyone. But to be perfectly honest, for me, autism is mostly just lonely. It’s quiet a lot too. I pick Cooper up from school and there are no conversations about his day. No desire to show me what he made that day or to tell me what he wants to do when we get home. I’m mostly just sad because I don’t know this little boy. And I might never. I am grieving for a child I’ve never known. (Read more.)