#sareespeak #womenofsareespeak
#cotton #cottonsilk
#SS 23/2021
#93
Disclaimer.
My usual.
A post from my personal newsfeed (old photo in comments) on World Autism Awareness Day, followed by Ramblings and Ruminations.
One and the same.
Rambling Ruminations.
Ruminating Rambles.
Couldn’t post it in SS as that would’ve meant flouting rule #5.
Post : “I read ‘For the Love of Anne’ when I was 12. I was deeply affected by Anne’s story. I cried with her parents and rejoiced when she made breakthroughs, however small.
Anne was autistic.
I sometimes believe we are all on the spectrum in varying degrees.
Jerry Newport remarked “I know of nobody who is purely autistic, or purely neurotypical. Even God has some autistic moments, which is why the planets spin”.
I also believe everything’s a matter of perspective.
Who is allowed to judge who? Who has been given permission to say A is perfect and B is not? Or that C is normal and D’s a misfit?
Apparently Einstein and Newton were autistic. Yet genius pulsed through their veins. Einstein said “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid”.
So, today, being World Autism Awareness Day, let’s celebrate #autismawareness and #LightItUpBlue by wearing blue.
For the friends I know, and for those I don’t, their families, their children,
For autism.
An old photo of me in a blue linen saree, seated on the edge of my tiny kidney shaped lotus pond, with bubbles around me.
Let’s not burst these bubbles, representing autistic persons, with our insensitivity and ignorance.
Let’s instead, come together, to provide a non judgemental, accepting environment so that these bubbles can rise and rise, ultimately achieving their full potential.”
Autism. A serious developmental disorder that impairs the ability to communicate and interact.
Let’s rephrase.
An inability to communicate and interact. Most have this impairment.
Spouses, after aeons of being married;
Parents, Children, Friends.
It is so easy to slip into a “together but not together” mode of existing side by side.
So let’s not judge. Anyone. Impaired or not or their parents, friends, families.
Now for my daily scribbles.
A frustrating fortnight. I pride myself on being positive, nothing fazes me, the sky is always blue even if it’s grey, the grass green, when parched.
Yet, I was blindsided.
Family unwell.
Ups, downs.
One grumpy, irritable home.
Work too, overwhelming.
Didn’t want to write anything for fear of it being a tad on the dark side.
Touch wood, all are mending, have mended.
Met some lovely clients I had the privilege of supporting, ranging from a teenager to a 90 year old.
Their blessings and satisfaction have been healing.
Chats, walks, meals with angelic friends.
A trip to Crystal Mountain.
A dinner and a heartwarming chat with a young friend.
Rejuvenating.
Feeling much like my old avatar.
Draped a midnight blue cotton silk with gold and magenta brocade borders, temple korvais, gold and pink pallu, gifted by a student during a Navarathri.
For Autism. Better Late than Never.
And for a class with my teacher.
And a quick drive to a peaceful temple.
Am sticking to the rules again. Rule#6.
Edited.
Dear sakhis, I must apologise for some of what I have written in this post. My intentions are not to underestimate or trivialise the challenges of autism. A friend pointed this out to me, when I said most of us have this inability to communicate. She is correct. So let’s work together to raise awareness and acceptance of this largely misunderstood condition. God bless.
Bavani’s Happy Place 