Awareness Rising

I'm so grateful for the following emails that I've received from beloved family members who are showing their support and their effort in researching and accepting Aspergers into their family.

...Well I have just spent some very productive time reading through much of what you sent in this email. Not the books but your blogs. I sure wish I had some idea of this when Terry was a child. It was very frustrating at times. Especially in the mornings as I am a morning person and everyone in my family was. I did not cope well and he suffered as I did. I applaud your efforts...

...Hi, Thanks for sending the info about this new interesting creature so that we may be able to comprehend or understand better. Amazing that in an almost instant in our lives something happens and we somehow get thrown out of balance and we get in the middle of this seeming quagmire of confusing identities. Sure all of us got some quirks, some easy, some of them deep and difficult to explain but the tough thing to deal with is the person's feeling in trying to integrate, his/her own difficulty to communicate and trying to understand his/her own inadequacy. I say it's a tough life out there, tough enough to understand and give a response much less a proper one and then to call a name to it and diagnose more cases, ugh, it's contagious is there a vaccine available? Can't we just stop making sense?...

...I choose to believe that in the norm there is also a spectrum of responses, receptions, reactions etc. and they didn't all have to fit but look into their eyes and you might find a better response. How many times in our effort to explain what we feel/our assertions we really put down the other person without intending to? I much rather have the honest individual response even short of proper sensitivity than having no response at all. I am still confused and don't understand everything there is to know about this condition and we appreciate you getting a handle on things and trying work things out. I told your Mom, that's our Jennifer, she'll keep researching till she find everything out! Love can cure us all and remember we all love you very much!...

...I found 45 references [at the library] when I typed in Aspergers. Three were novels, two of them mysteries (?). There is one DVD titled Navigating The Social World. It was not stated what the DVD covered. There was only one entry for my branch so I got it. It's titled "Pretending To Be Normal". It's by a woman diagnosed with Aspergers. I thought it wouldn't hurt to see what it is about. Several of the entries were listed as on the shelves at the Farragut branch. I didn't reserve any as I really wanted to see the book list that is in the notebook Debi gave us. Of the 45 entries, there were several noted as "not available", so they are listed but there are no copies available to read. I was a little surprised at 45 entries, but then this is new to me. Keep the receipts for any books that you buy. If there is a center that opens up one of the first things they will need is a library!!...

Thank you so so so very much. Your words are supportive and your efforts and research initiative mean so much to me. It actually takes a huge burden off my shoulders to know that I have help in learning about this together with family and I can share the responsibility of understanding with others who have strong emotional ties to Terry and Eric. I'm not alone, facing a close-minded world. I'm so very blessed.