"My son is not broken!". At least this is the response I should have had. That may sound like a strange opening remark, so let me tell you the short story.
A week or so ago, we decided to pop out to one of the local pubs for a pub lunch. We do it a couple of times a month, just to eat out and not have to worry about the dishes. To be honest, we enjoy eating food that someone with more experience has cooked.
This particular afternoon we went to a pub we only go to on occasion. Not a regular one, we wanted to have a bit of a change and they do great value for money food too.
Before I go any further, the food was good. All of us enjoyed it and ate, probably, a bit too much.
At this point, an older lady, probably in her 70's, came over and said hello to us including trying to say hello to our son. I said to her that he won't say hello back, no matter how many times she said it to him because he was non-verbal. She looked at us a bit strange, so I told her that he had Autism (she looked at me blank when I said ASD) and that he also had a learning difficulty.
It's this next part that prompted this post. She then turned to me and said something along the lines of - Don't worry because God will come down soon and fix him.
Now, I'm not a religious person myself. I have friends that are and I never would knock anyone for being religious. But to say that God will fix him implies that he is broken? He's certainly NOT broken. He is a loving little guy that doesn't speak but makes sure he needs are communicated and to boot, he's a cheeky little bugger too.
To suggest that he needs fixing just goes to show that some people think, well, I won't dignify it.
Everyone is perfect the way they are. Yes, many have disabilities to overcome and yes, if we could take the pain away we would. But, to use, people who accept, they are all perfect.
The world is becoming a more accepting place but we still have some way to go.. But that is yet another post...
That's how I feel now and that's how I will always feel.
If you have any similar experiences then please leave us a comment and share below.