For over thirty years I taught students with Autism.
Students with Autism is the term that I prefer
because as I got to know them I realized their Autism
was only part of who they were.
Teaching students with Autism
helped me see the world and the people in it differently
It is one of the many lessons my students taught to me.
But this lesson didn’t come easy…although my students did their part…
It took me a while to look past their Autism…and see into their hearts.
But once I did…
once I saw beyond the person on the outside I was looking at
I realized, yes they had Autism,…but they were so much more than that.
As I tried to help them learn to live with their Autism…
(something they would never get rid of!)
I saw there was so much there to enjoy…to relish…so much there to love.
As our society wrestles with this same type of problem
with immigrants, people of color, different religions, LGBTQ+…here’s a thought
I wish those having trouble seeing who these people truly are
could learn the lesson I was taught…
by a group of student-teachers with Autism…
who quietly did their part
In helping me look past the outside of a person
and see into their hearts.
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