Spectrum of Concern

After a lot of thought about the matter – ever since I heard about Jerry Seinfeld self-identifying as having Autism, I’ve been really avoiding saying anything about the matter.  Even more so, really, after I watched folks get all up in arms about the whole thing.

So… after putting some more thought into it, I thought I’d actually say something vis-a-vis my thoughts on the matter.  Just a few words on it, really.

And those words are:

I. Do. Not. Care.

Seriously.

Does Seinfeld have Autism, or is he hanging himself onto a community that he really has nothing to do with?  Doesn’t matter to me.  Not one iota.

To be honest, I care about this about as much as I worry about the numbers of tonight’s lottery drawing – it’s an interesting bit of trivia perhaps, but it does not affect my life.  It does not harm my son’s diagnosis of being on the Spectrum, nor does it diminish his challenges.  It falls even beyond my worry about what causes Autism (that I think it’s something we should figure out so we can decrease the incidence of it in the future, but that finding it out does zero for me).

I mean, think about it this way: you find out that your fourth-cousin’s neighbor (living half-way around the world from you) thinks he is double-jointed.  How does that affect your life, in real terms?

I care about the therapies available to my son.  I care about finding him activities that meet his interests and are appropriate to his developmental level.  I care about finding him friends who want to socialize with him, and with finding him ways to relate to other people.

Whether other people do or do not have Autism?  Please.  Bigger fish to fry, folks.

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