Hi, I have a son with autism and a few months ago, on my 35th birthday, I learned I'm on the spectrum as well. The sensory experience dilemmas are huge, life long obstacles. The input is always going to be as harsh as it's ever been, but learning how to communicate or mitigate the output we absolutely and immediately need to express is liberating and worth the efforts. Depending on where a person may lie on the spectrum dictates the challenge they will face navigating the field and achieving self sufficiency and beyond.

It's strange to feel alone when people are always saying they love you, or to see the world and measure it differently. The disparity of where I fit in, relative to those around me was always apparent, but it was a skill I needed to learn and now have to apply. It's something like rollerblading everywhere in that it may become second nature and facilitate smooth, graceful maneuvers through my day, but a pebble is catastrophic, and so I always am looking for pebbles. As I practice, I can look down less and experience more of the world around me, but having someone there to spot pebbles has allowed me to glide for longer periods than I had imagined possible.

I apologize for rambling only to say it's so important to rally for him, and fail alongside him, so the successes are shared as well.