stupid, ignorant people

I would of gotten upset and asked the mother what the problem was. Of course i am a little biased because i have a brother who is down syndrome and autistic. Every once in awhile he will go up to a stranger and hug them. I always apologize, because i can understand how it can be weird for some people to get random hugs, but no one ever had a problem with it. If they did have a problem with it i would try to explain that he is special and doesn't understand that its not a good idea to hug strangers. I think there needs to be a world wide understanding that people like your son and my brother and not going to hurt them and need to be treasured for the prizes they are. No one really understands what it is like to have someone like that in there lives in less they live it. When people find out that my brother is handicapped they always say i am sorry and i always responded with why. I have learned love, patience, and have a better understanding of the trials of life for having him in my life and would not trade it for anything.

No one ever said their kid couldn't play with my daughter. Of course she was more apt to stay clear of just about everyone. However, there were problems at school from kids who did not know her. When her brother came home and said they were calling her a "freak" I spoke with the principal. The solution that I agreed to was not to punish the kids but to teach them. There was no more problem after that. As for ignorant people, I don't think there is a solution for them. They will most likely remain stupid and ignorant.

I don't know why that mother would have thought that was so strange to begin with. I mean, a lot of kids that age do different gestures when they get excited. I would have considered it a bit eccentric, but not anything to be afraid of. I don't know if I would have said anything to the other mother. If I was really upset at her reaction, I might have stepped up.

I can't be objective here because I've worked with special needs kids when I was an assistant on the school bus. I wasn't the bus driver, but I was the aide that took care of the kids to/from school. We had all forms of 'special' kids under our charge, from behavioral/anger problems, to autism, to brain damaged and physically handicapped. Because of the large area we covered on those routes, we had some of the kids on the bus for up to two hours a day, so I got to interact with them quite a bit. Every one of them had a special place in my heart. Fortunately, this particular school district had a wonderful special needs program and the kids were main-streamed as much as possible, so that most kids were introduced to other kids that were 'different' than them at a very young age, and rarely was there any incident of harassment or abuse. Not everyone understands autism, nor, like you said, is it readily recognizable if you don't already know. People that don't know what something is will normally have a fear of it, and that sounds like what happened in this case. In a perfect world, if that happened to my child, I would use that as an opportunity to attempt to speak with the other parent and give them a brief education.

These are the eternal emotions of the child to do some thing or play with an other child. If that woman had stopped the daughter to play with your son she might have some reasons to do it. Similarly your husband had also some reasons not to talk to her that why she is stopping her to play with the child. These are the eternal feelings and emotions and doubts and fears.

What's wrong with this people out there, is there a differentiation factors over here?? The parents of the little gal was hysterical, it's just kids playing and yet she like treating her little gal as a princess and isolate her child from the rest. I would just treat her the same way when her little gal is playing with my child, see how's her reaction would be.

Whats wrong with hand flapping? People are ignorant. I would of probably got up && hand flapped with my son. I hate ignorance. I also have an Autistic son && have ran into ignorance myself. We have to be the voice for our children && that lady needed to hear a voice at that time. Maybe she doesn't know much about Autism && needed some education about it...? :) Good luck in the future with ignorance... hopfully you wont run into it again, if so, then let your voice be heard... :) Take care.

I am sorry you had to go through that. I have a friend with a child with autism. I noticed a difference immediatly and told her about it. She went to have him checked and I was right. Anyhow, we were at a play land in the local mall and like your son, Arin, flapped the hands at all the neat toys and stuff! She was so excited that she started weaving her body from left to right. All of a Sudden children and parents ran like lunetics. One woman acted like Arin had the plague. I got mad and told her thank goodness for cooties, baby or you wouldn't have a place to play. I went right over to the one woman who ran with her daughter and said "Thank goodness you got out when you did, I don't want my neice catching the "normal" disease." She caught on and apologized for her ignorance and let her kid go back. I said it loud enough for all the other parents to hear that "you run from her because she's different, and she's laughing cuz you are all the same." That shut them all up. Of course, it was just Arin and her new friend playing, but hey, that just meant more room for me!! I later talked to my friend and she said she had no idea that people were like that, and now that I taught her a thing or two, she is better prepared for the comments and the rude behavior! Good Luck!

That will also make me upset some people just dont have respect to tell you the truth I dont actually know how will I react to that situation I guess I would make a scene where she will also get upset im the kind of person who fights back I guess its reflex.

I think I would have asked what Cary did to caused her to be so rude, afraid, and uncaring! If I was the other parent, and I have been, I would have encouraged my child to be nice and play with care. I believe that love and caring are the most important things in this world. ♥

ahh... i wanna reply your discussion but i really really sleepy now, you know if i read english, i have to read it hard.. so i dont know what i wanna say... for to day maybe next time ..