04/17/2025
This is a picture of my son, Asher.
Asher has Autism.
This is a picture of him playing baseball.
(Well, it’s actually after his baseball team won both the regular season and the tournament Championship last spring.)
He also dreams of the day he’s old enough to work at the snack bar at the community pool we are members of. He can’t wait to get a job, earn a wage, pay taxes.
I dream of who his prom date might be. Both dreading and looking forward to him being on that cusp of adulthood.
Autism is hard. Autism is beautiful. Autism has taught us so much.
Autism is an integral part of who Asher is. And nothing about my son has destroyed my family.
Autism has challenged us. It has changed us. It has brought us to our knees and it has been the reason we have risen up. It has emboldened us. It has not destroyed us.
My son has autism. He played baseball for 5 years. He will hold a job. He will pay taxes. He will do so many things.
BUT. Those are not the things that give him value. With our without those experiences and abilities his life has value. And importance.
Baseball or not, taxes or not, dates or not, people with Autism are important, and valuable, and worthy.
To say that Autism is destroying families and that Autism is a waste of “our greatest natural resource—our children” is beyond ignorance, beyond negligence, beyond harmful.
It is disgraceful, destructive, and dangerous.
