I came across www.zazzle.com and thought of making this pin-button advocacy for Gab's faster development...

If you want to be Gab's advocate and help spread awareness on Autism, you can freely download the pin button and post it on your website/webpage :)

(Originally published in Herword.com on November 16, 2009)

Dear Senator Noynoy,

Up until you announced your candidacy, I had given up hope in the election process of 2010. While I have exercised my voting rights judiciously in every election since I turned eighteen, years of ineffective, dishonest governing have made me jaded and worn me out of any shred of hope.

And then you came along, and for the first time in many, many years, I felt I had something to look forward to. This child of the Marcos era, who slept through much of her adolescence in an apolitical and apathetic slumber, who resisted the call for the revolution in 1986 because she was too busy studying, is putting her hopes for honest change squarely on your shoulders. I pray for a change that will come in my lifetime and continue in my children’s and their children’s lifetimes.

Your popularity does not surprise me. I share the sentiments of many people who have felt indignant yet helpless at the shameless and callous displays of behavior of our present government. But while your popularity may help you in the course of the campaign, it has also opened you to vicious attacks from your opponents.

Your critics claim that you are autistic, and as any neurotypical person is wont to react, you have vehemently denied it, calling it “malicious and baseless.”

Allow me to say outright that I do not believe you have autism. I may not be a diagnostician, but having lived with autism every single day for the last fifteen years of my life, I know what autism is firsthand. I have witnessed it up close, lived with all its blessings, and survived almost all its challenges. What I know of it, I know not only from books, from the Net, or from research and published papers. What I know of it comes from real life. As an advocate for autism, I am proud to be part of the large community of families of Filipinos with autism, which at last count, numbers close to half a million affected individuals. That being said, let me posit a question: If you were one, what is absolutely wrong with it?

Autism is a spectrum of conditions ranging from the mildly affected to the most severely impaired. Common to this spectrum, however, are varying degrees of deficits in social relatedness, behavior, and communication. My son Alphonse, at 15, remains on the far end of the bell curve of “normal.” He is nonverbal, continues to require assistance for many of the activities of daily living, and has the cognitive understanding of a five-year-old child. You, on the other hand, are well-educated, highly conversant and intelligent; your cognitive abilities are certainly not in question. While these two pictures comprise the polar ends of the extent and breadth of a highly complicated spectrum (again, I reiterate, we are simply assuming for the sake of argument that you belong to this spectrum), they are not totally incompatible. (To wit, there are individuals with different degrees of autism already enrolled in some of our country’s best universities.)

Autism is difficult and challenging, and to those of us who love persons with autism, it is a rollercoaster ride every single day. Is it a disability? It is, but it also is not; it depends on how you look at it. And yet, when you really think about it, ravenous greed is a much harder disorder to treat, as are immorality, shamelessness, corruption, and vice. I have heard of recovery in autism, but diseases of the soul are almost always incurable.

If being autistic means not being able to lie, then by all means, I should be proud to say I am autistic.

If being autistic means not being able to cheat and rig elections, then call me autistic.

If being autistic means not being able to steal, to use public funds for personal gain while the country wallows in poverty, then I am staunchly autistic.

If being autistic means satisfaction with what one has, if it means a characteristic lack of greed and materialism, then I count myself autistic.

If it means not being envious and not judging people based on looks, money, connections, or pogi points, then, yes, I am autistic.

So the next time someone calls you autistic and you feel slighted, perhaps you may wish to reply to them this way instead: “Thank you for calling me autistic. To me, autism does not make one more or less of a person. It does not make one more or less of a man. It just makes one autistic. I am sorry to disappoint you that I am not, but I hope to be able to live up to the honesty people with autism expect every day. I would much rather be autistic than be corrupt. Better autistic than be unable to understand what it means to be a public servant. Thank you very much.”

The day you do, you have championed the cause of the least able of our people. And for what it’s worth, you still have my vote.

Sincerely yours,
Pinky Ong-Cuaycong

credits to: http://autismsocietyphilippines.blogspot.com

Today, my mom went to my house for a visit and told me about my sis-in-law's friend's older sister who has a son with autism but the boy goes to regular schooling now. Mom told me that it would be helpful to get to talk to someone undergoing the same scenario as i am.

Hubby and i have been discussing about Gab's developments in his occupational therapy and speech therapy in the past months. Gab's already turning 4 this May and my concerns for his behavior is really alarming. We have decided to either change his OT or change to another therapy center.

So, we checked on H.O.M.E therapy center and inquired about OT schedules available. Most schedules available were in the afternoon, i think i won't be convenient time for Gab. I checked on their therapy room setup, quite different approach from Center for GOALS therapy center. GOALS has a more like playroom type setting that Gab really liked.

Conclusion, I think we would go for a change in the therapist if she cannot address our concerns.

I was browsing the web a while ago for some sensory therapy toys and information about sensory integration techniques when i came across this poem from http://www.autismpinoy.com

God’s Whisper

~ A poem by Jeannie Castillo,

for her son -- Jamie ~

When you came, I heard God whisper,

“Take care of this little one.

He’s one of my special spirits

Accept him as your son.

He may need some extra attention

Some added patience and some time

But he’ll grow into a beautiful person

With your love, he’ll be just fine.

You’ll see that he will surprise you

He’ll amaze you with his soul

He’ll bring you joy and endless wonder

In his way, he’ll make you whole.

For every smile will be a miracle

Each new step, a victory

His growth will be blessed and meaningful

His life is a gift from Me.

This angel is your reminder

Of what is pure and what is true

It’s not what the world says that matters

What matters is all up to you.

You are the one who will teach him

That he is perfect in My eyes

With Me, he can move mountains

He can do anything, he need only try.

For this child has a magnificent spirit

He was meant to do wonderful things

His life has a special mission

I will raise him on eagle’s wings

To soar high and live life fully

To sing and laugh and love

So you must raise him with warmth and tenderness,

With Me, you’ll have enough.

Now always remember this message,

Be brave and strong and true

Know that I am with you

Remember that I chose you.

I chose you for this mission.

This is your gift to Me.

Take care of him well and let him be loved,

For when you love him . . . you love Me.”

~~~

November 2001

© R.H. Castillo

This poem really strucked me and made me realized many things about who am i now, what am i doing now, and what i should be doing instead...

NOW, I AM NOT BURDENED NOR FEELING ASHAMED TO SAY THAT I AM A MOTHER OF A CHILD WHO HAS AUTISM. I AM A MOTHER OF A TRUE ANGEL..