Wise Words for You

Written by Sam Farmer Picture portrayed by actors What an experience this has been! Fatherhood in this day and age is no easy undertaking regardless and who is or isn’t on the Spectrum. Take it up a notch when both father and son have Spectrum profiles. Without question, I am in the thick of the greatest challenge of my life, though the word challenge only tells part of the story. Extraordinary also comes to mind. My son and I are who we are. When we were born, we were both dealt a deck of cards which we are playing as best we can. After many years of very hard work, I have come to accept who I am and have accepted that Asperger’s is a part of my identity. My son, soon to turn 10 years old, has known for some time that Autism is a part of who he is and for now at least, he accepts this reality. Nonetheless, I know that significant challenges lie ahead which will make it difficult at times for him to accept the Autistic aspect of his personality, and I stand ready to help see...

My whole life I thought there was something wrong with me.  My diagnosis changed those thoughts.  When I learned about my diagnosis I knew nothing was wrong with me…I knew that I had something very special about me and my life was about to change. It was April 3, 2013, two weeks after my 34 th  birthday, when I heard the words: “you’re on the spectrum.” As soon as I heard those four words, my body collapsed into my mom's arms. My mom and my stepdad were both in the room with me and you could feel the relief that went out the window.  I remember walking out of work two days after my official diagnosis after a long day and stopping in my steps in the middle of the parking lot thinking to myself “I feel normal.”  Why, after all these years, did I finally feel “normal?” I’m still trying to figure out what this all means.  All I know for sure is that I finally feel whole and as strange as this might sound, my life makes sense now.  I don...

Content warning :  This story contains discussion of serious mental health issues and racism. T he  panic attacks started after Chloe watched a man die. She spent the past three and a half weeks in training, trying to harden herself against the daily onslaught of disturbing posts: the hate speech, the violent attacks, the graphic pornography. In a few more days, she will become a full-time Facebook content moderator, or what the company she works for, a professional services vendor named Cognizant, opaquely calls a “process executive.” For this portion of her education, Chloe will have to moderate a Facebook post in front of her fellow trainees. When it’s her turn, she walks to the front of the room, where a monitor displays a video that has been posted to the world’s largest social network. None of the trainees have seen it before, Chloe included. She presses play. SOMEONE IS STABBING HIM, DOZENS OF TIMES, WHILE HE SCREAMS AND BEGS FOR HIS LIFE. The video dep...