Gerard Nadal, bioethicist and father of an autistic son, asks:
[Why] so many autistic children?
I believe that in His infinite Love and Mercy God is permitting this . . . as a means of rescuing us from ourselves.
. . . . Autistic children are Love’s answer to our designer approach for
offspring, especially as there are no clear genetic markers or physical
attributes to pick up in pre-natal testing. We are being given one last
chance as a civilization to get it right, to learn the meaning of
sacrificial love through a condition that strikes at the very heart of
social communication, to walk ourselves back from the precipice of the
abyss of narcissistic annihilation. We are being given the chance to
learn the true meaning of human dignity and marital love, a love that
creates new life and is large enough to swallow any imperfection that
comes with that new life.
Such capacity results from . . . having allowed ourselves to be the recipients of God the Father’s
healing love. If we haven’t, we must begin there . . . . This may be our last chance.
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3 comments:
Wow! I would go on to carry that out further to include all children with special needs. I have a son that is not autistic but he's got sensory processing issues that can be a huge challenge at times. I know for a fact that I am a more compassionate person because of my son. Oh how I wish that our culture would see that children, all children, are a true blessing, a gift to us from God.
I agree with you, Kimberlie. My son has significant sensory processing dysfunction, too, which often goes hand in hand with autism spectrum disorders, and which sometimes severely affects his day-to-day functioning. (As we wait for Jude, I'm assuming that he will have certain issues too as a result of being in an orphanage since he was 2 days old -- he's 16 months now). Sometimes it takes all the patience in the world, but my son fills me up as much as he sometimes depletes me.
Pentimento,
One thing I would do differently if I could do it all over again is that I would truly hide out at home the first month or so after bringing home my son and I would have removed a lot of the toys from our environment. It was hard though because we had our older son to consider. However, if you have ever heard of Rhythmic Movement Therapy, know an RMT practitioner, I would so find the money to do it with your children. We have been doing it for about 8 months and some of our sons visual processing issues have improved dramatically. You can email me off-line if you are interested in knowing more about our experience.
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