Special needs: Son teaches mom about acceptance


OC Moms





She half-smiled and put her fingers to her face.

"Why do people get sad?" she asked, her eyes fluttering gently as she looked toward something I couldn't see.

It was a question that would make most everyone else flee in the opposite direction.

But not me, so I gave it my best shot.

"You're not alone," I told her. "My mom has been feeling it, too. So have I. Lots of people I know are struggling with the blues lately."

"I need to get more rest," she suddenly and matter-of-factly informed me.

And then, as fast as she had appeared, she was gone.

By anyone else's standards, it would've been a strange conversation, an uncomfortable exchange prompted by a woman who appeared to have a limited understanding of social boundaries and conversational etiquette.

But thanks to my special-needs son, my standards are blissfully different, and I am no longer the same well-meaning but ignorant person who feared and recoiled from anything and anyone that seemed different or out of place.

Because of my child Andrew, my eyes have been opened to a world filled with diverse individuals who all deserve to be treated with kindness, dignity and respect.

It doesn't matter what her diagnosis was. Though her mannerisms were so familiar, her distant gaze and fluttering hands something I have seen many times in my Andrew.

This woman at the store was feeling sad, and needed to tell someone about it and I'm so glad she chose me.

Her uncensored words welcomed me into her struggles and gave me the opportunity to practice what I preach so often to others in regards to my own special-needs son: Everyone is worthy of compassion and assistance.

Everyone deserves to be treated like a fellow human being.

And thanks to my special-needs son, it's a lesson I've long ago learned and one I will never forget.



Join the conversation

Comments are encouraged, but you must follow our User Agreement
