If You Build It, They Will Come

The title here is a line that was in the movie, "Field of Dreams".
In the story the main character played by Kevin Costner has to decide weather or not to sacrifice planting part of the land on his farm based on a dream he had in order to build a baseball feild. I highly recomend the movie.

Whenever someone want to works toward what they believe in that doesnt seem practical to others, there are many risks. However, Ive learned that often people dont have as much opportunity to retreat or not take risks as they think they do. Sometime the choice to not take risks is an illusion and the "safe" choice is actually the riskiest.... even if its not perceived as such in the begining.

Risks are part of life. Sometimes they start out being quite uncomfortable but once youve paid the price for your lack of commitment enough times, you may realize that the lack of comfort involved with the commitment isnt as bad as the alternative.

Heres one of my favorite stories about commitment:
This guy walks into a public mens room and sees a dime in the urinal. He stops.... He thinks.... He looks around to see if anyone is watching....He thinks again....He begins to pace( I can always relate to this part because I pace alot)....Pretty soon his worry and concern over the situation are obviously having a very negative effect on him.... He knows he must decide but what shall he do?...Finally, he gets an idea!!!! He pulls a quarter from his pocket and says just before throwing it in, " For 10 cents no, but for 35 cents, you bet!"

Autistics and parents of autistics have alot to lose by staying quiet and allowing perceptions about autism to remain as they are. There is alot to lose. I wish that I could tell how I know. Over time Ill tell more. But trust me, I KNOW.

People who have some idea that this is true are many. People who are doing something about it are too few. Ill tell you what. We really have too much to lose by our silence.

I wish I could do audio here. Thats one of my goals. Id accompany these words with some folk song about unions....by Pete Seger (Im a long time big fan of folk music) The audio thing is kind of a joke but I really couldnt be more serious about this.

Maybe youre asking yourself, " Ideals and motivating speaches and songs are great but what about practical solutions?" Well you wont get any argument on that from me. The real issues need to be addressed and discussed. There really cant be TOO much of this. However, what Im advocating for here is more about ideals than anything.

You see people get stuck for lots of reasons. Maybe your not a scientist, statistician, artist, or journalist or whatever. Maybe youre better at something like that than you think. I enjoy writing poetry but honestly, Ive actually spent many hours on the creative process of a poem and then thrown it away because I realized that I had seen all of it somewhere before but I wasnt sure. Im not suggesting you steal credit for something. I sure dont want to do that. All Im saying is , just DO something. Lots of stuff is worth repeating. Give someone credit if you know who that someone is but dont be silent.

Idealism isnt all fluff and pretty speaches. Discrimination against autistics and autistic abuse.... these arent just words. Its real. Is genocide too strong of a word to descibe the situation. I really dont think so. You know where to go to find what youre not finding here. See, thats my whole point. I dont have to do anything great to make a difference in this situation. Neither do you. Greatness may be redifined. Those seen as the most insignificant will make some of the most significant contributions as values change. But you dont have to be great to be somebody. Because you already ARE somebody.

Talk to somebody about what they think about autism. Draw something. Write something. Maybe youll be seen as great, maybe not. Do it anyway. Heck, blog if you can and thats youre thing. Maybe someday somebody who you really respect may tell you, "If you build it, they will come." Maybe that would make you feel like all your efforts are worth something. I know that kind of thing means alot to me. But I think you will find rewards for whatever you do. Remember also that lots of people lose when you do nothing about something that you know is important.

And neurodiversity and all that....