Preaching to the Choir
I love blogging. In the past 3 months that we started this www.lookatmyeyes and our Facebook site and our Twitter site…I’ve had a blast. I have enjoyed finding new followers, being followed by people across the world, receiving encouraging messages and emails and comments from so many people. I love that I have found other fathers out there who care about their child with autism and really get out there and fight the fight and don’t flee from the situation.
I’m having a good time.
But is it making a difference? As I sit and type this we have about 350 followers on Twitter and about 300 followers on Facebook and have probably sold close to 1,000 copies of “Look At My Eyes” (if you haven’t purchased our book, shame on you…do it now here)
so it’s not like we have reached all that many people…and there are plenty more advocates in the Autism World that we can reach out to and make aware of our book and our passion for our son with autism and helping him have the best quality of life possible.
But at the end of the day…aren’t I just preaching to the choir?
We’re all just talking to one another about our situations…very important, yes, but what about those people out there who don’t have a child on the spectrum? What about those people who say, “I don’t have any children so I don’t need to read your book.” Or those that reply, “Well my children are ‘typical’ and I don’t have any friends or family with children on the spectrum–so your book is really not for us.”
I get it. I haven’t read a book about Down’s Syndrome ever–mainly because I don’t know anyone with Down’s and so I don’t concern myself with knowing more about that situation.
But with all the hype and books and articles and blogs and Tweets and Facebook posts…are we just merely talking to those that are already in “the know” or who are already nodding their head in agreement of what I say regarding autism?
How do we reach those who aren’t directly affected?
Mainstream society probably thinks like this when you say “Autism”….their first thought is Rain Man (or at least those Gen-Xers who remember watching that movie. Their second thought might either be Jenny McCarthy (ugh) or they just say, “I don’t know anyone with autism so I’m not going to pay attention to it” and that’s the WORST thing they can do.
So what does a concerned father of a child with autism do in this situation? How do we get the word to the masses to pay attention to this silent epidemic? Are we just wasting our time Facebooking, Tweeting, Blogging to one another?
I get that we can’t make people pay attention–and programs are out there that do call attention to autism and NASCAR does something and all that…but is that just one day a year and that’s that?
Don’t tell me that you don’t need to read “Look At My Eyes” don’t give me excuses for not joining our Facebook account or donating money to organizations that are fighting the good fight…do something.
Does this bother you or is it just me?
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Well for anyone interested, I was involved in the search for Robert Wood Jr. in Hanover County VA. I had informed my superiors that this search was not a typical search for a missing person as Robert (having Autism) may not even realize that he was lost. On the Tuesday morning after Robert had gone missing, citizens began to show up to assist with the search. I had the opportunity to give a 10 minute class on Autism, and Roberts characteristics to every person involved in the search. No one was not allowed to proceed to the search locations until they had received the training. So in three and a half days, I had the opportunity to train between 5000 – 6000 people on Autism. On one hand i was “preaching to the chior” as many of the searches were either parents or teachers of children with autism. On the other hand, many of the searches received their first exposure to Autism. Hopefully the community will wake up to not just Autism, but all Special Needs.
great points. so many want to educate other about autism and expect them to want to know more, but your comment about Downs Syndrome really struck me. I don’t concern myself with any other conditions not directly related to my child, so why would I expect anyone else to do the same? would everything I know about autism be Rainman if I had not had an affected child? Very thought provoking.
Yours Truly, Choir Member