I absolutely love running -- enjoying the outdoors, feeling the "runners high", listening to audio books, reaping the health benefits, and curating my Strava posts like it's Instagram. As far as running events go, the Boston Maraton is the oldest, most famous Marathon in the country, where the elite runners run. But this race means a lot more to me than just running.
When my son was diagnosed with autism, everything changed. I left my job to focus on more fully on supporting my family, and I threw myself completely into understanding what's going on in his brain, and what I can do to help him thrive, and how to restore peace and joy to our family that was struggling with the daily bouts of kicking and screaming. Fast forward to now, 1.5 years later, and our son's progress has been nothing short of remarkable.
One of the first questions I asked his neuro-psych was "What's the likelihood that he can be cured?" and she gave me a sweet smile and said "He'll always be who he is", gently letting me know that there's never truly a "cure" for autism. But there are very effective treatments and behavior therapies, which when applied consistently, can have transformative impact. And while there are still better days and worse days, our son has gained the skills to express his feelings and play nice with others beyond what I would have thought possible.
And that's just the problem -- not enough people understand autism, and don't know how effective autism treatments are, and moreover, how capable autistic people can be if given the opportunity. There continues to be a fear and stigma associated with it. Together, we can change that.
I'm running with Dougie's Team for Autism because I want to help support initiatives that provide education, treatment, inclusion, and acceptance of autistic people. The world needs all kinds of minds.