Well, actually, it's my blog birthday - I just realised that my first ever blog post was written a year ago today. I can't believe it - it feels like yesterday. A friend had suggested that I blogged about my experiences with James, as she felt I had amassed a wealth of knowledge and resources and that other parents might find my insight and experience useful. I have no idea if this is the case, or whether there are a total of 5 people who read my blog, but I know that this blog has helped me more than I imagined it would. I have a "safe" space to share my ups and downs, to talk about painful, poignant moments in my chaotic life. Somewhere I can deal with my problems in a lighthearted manner, having had time to reflect on the experience I can usually see the funny side of what was, at the time it occurred, often a frightening, overwhelming or frustrating situation.
So what are my birthday wishes? Well, I would be really intrigued to know who, if anyone, actually reads this blog, and how you came across it. So, messages would be highly appreciated and as a birthday gift I will donate £1 for every response to this post to my local branch of the National Autistic Society. There's an incentive!
In the last few days I've found myself in a couple of interesting situations. Last week at our coffee morning, I was gobsmacked to see a friend come in for coffee. It turns out she has concerns about her son who is a month older than James. I felt so empowered by my ability to support her and guide her through the various stages of the process and I felt that it is this sort of work that I should be doing now. This was reinforced today at work when the mother of one of my patients told me that her older son had recently been diagnosed with autism - we sorted out the (simple) problems of her younger son, and then I armed her with knowledge and information about autism. She left with a prescription for her youngest child and a list of "homework" to do before our next appointment. It felt like I could give her this information and support knowing she was listening to me - when you are talking to another mother who has experienced the same difficulties you are talking to a kindred spirit. I felt she really listened to me and just hope that when I next see her she has applied for DLA, contacted HomeStart, sorted out Portage and got herself on an EarlyBird course! That's quite a lot of homework...
Anyway, I'm going to sign off now, but wanted to say one last "Happy Blog Birthday" to me!
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4 comments:
Hi Karen! So lovely to 'see' you on line again. As you know I have known you on-line and then been lucky enough to meet you in real life, for many years and I have missed your absence greatly! I find this blog an wonderfully written and very honest account of the reality of having a child with autism. Please keep up the good work.
Vicky (Woolly!)
xxx
Well, you know i read it! I think it must have been either Damsels or Slingmeet that i heard about your blog, and was interested mainly for personal reasons (i have Aspergers, and strongly suspect DS has too, but are fighting to get anyone to listen to us), but also because i'd met you at an Edinburgh slingmeet.
Happy blog birthday! I'm another Damsel's blog reader. My best friend's little boy is just working through the steps of possible autism diagnosis, and it's because of you that I was able to tell her about Portage. So you're helping people that you aren't even aware exist :-)
White Rose
I read it! But you knew that.
Linds
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