LOOK at the pure, unadulterated JOY in this little girl!

I can’t even… It’s truly one of the most genuinely beautiful things I have ever seen – sheer perfection. That’s one of my favorite things about her -she’s always so unapologetically and unabashedly….. Lila.

It’s taken her to teach me that it truly doesn’t matter what others think – like, at all.

If we had listened to everyone else, Lila wouldn’t have been diagnosed so early and wouldn’t have received the early intervention that she desperately needed.

She also spins, flaps, and has a myriad of behaviors that society doesn’t deem “normal”. We’re not going to teach her “quiet hands” or try and get her to change who she is. We want to teach her to successfully function in society and live independently if at all possible, but that doesn’t include forcing her to try and “pass” as neurotypical…because she’s not…she’s autistic (and perfectly so).

She has been and always will be more than “good enough” – I want to make sure she internalizes that and takes it with her always. If how she acts makes others uncomfortable – that’s on them to work through, not her. The number of autistic children only continues to grow; society will have to change and be more accepting of them – and I will do everything within my power to make that happen for her.