Video: Autistic AND Successful

I wanted to share this with all of you because I’m soooooo proud on my little Emmett John.

First let me start out by saying that a few times this year, I got into debates with a few parents of Autistic children who said an Autistic child can never be successful. I was really struck by this because, to me, it felt like they had given up on their kids before they even had a chance to prove them wrong.

I suppose, that in the end, it comes down to how you define success. In my opinion, success is a very relative term and I truly believe my children are successful with every little victory we celebrate. It seems that some people define success by money and power, at least the parents I was debating with did. They believed that if their child didn’t have a well paying job and an apartment, living on their own, they were not successful.

I honestly thought that was sad and I feel for their children because, no matter how hard they try, they will never meet their parents expectations. I don’t mean to sound judgmental because I know everyone’s experience with Autism is different, but honestly, it’s kinda hard not to sometimes. My family faces great challenges and as you all likely know by now, I not one for painting a rosy picture when one isn’t there.

However, no matter how difficult life is or how challenging my kids can be, and they are, I assure you, I have never given up on them and I never will. I feel for parents that are so completely overwhelmed that they give up. These parents need way more support and I’m not referring to these parents in this post, just so we are clear. I’m talking specifically about the people who believe their Autistic child won’t be successful if they don’t gain money and power, as the parents I was debating with believed.

Having said that, if we don’t have faith in our own children, despite the challenges that may need to be overcome.  How can they ever have faith in themselves? They need to know or feel that we as their parents love them fr who they are and believe in them, no matter what. It’s also important to show how proud you are of them for their accomplishments, no matter how small and insignificant they may seem.

I personally, define success as getting back up after you fall, in order to try again. By that definition of success, my kids have already succeeded in life and I couldn’t be prouder.

I wanted to share a moment I had today with my youngest like minion, Mr. Emmett John. This is a huge success and victory for all of us, especially Emmett. Emmett was using his Motorola XOOM Android Tablet -that he was given by Motorola themselves- this morning. He was browsing Netflix and was trying to find Dora The Explorer. I showed him that there was a search button on the top of the page that brought up a keyboard.

-Please keep in mind that at the beginning of this year, Emmett was profoundly delayed in speech, language as well as cognitively. While he’s still speech and language delayed, he has made tremendous strides this year in all areas of his little life. I couldn’t be any prouder of him than I am right now.-

When Emmett saw the keyboard pop up, he began typing the letters D-O-R-A into the search box. When he finished typing the letter the box displayed Dora The Explore beneath it. He touched the word and the show appeared in the  instant queue.

I was speechless. Emmett is 3 years old and typing the name of the show he wants to watch, into the search box of Netflix on his tablet. When he realized that he could type things in order to locate them in the queue, he did it over and over again. I grabbed my phone and caught video of him doing this. I’m so freaking excited, I can’t even explain.

If this isn’t success, than I don’t know what is.

Rob Gorski

The Autism Dad

Father to 3 boys with #Autism, 1 with Fragile Health. Award winning blogger, techy and advocate. #AutismDad @GuardianLocate