Autistic Capital

I’ve never been one to bemoan the station of being an autism parent. Be it privilege or optimism, I see too much beauty in the way my son engages with the world that I find myself discovering truths I wasn’t able to see without his help. Little cheat codes that he’s found that make more sense than how I may have approached situations in the past.

There are pragmatic lessons to a life as less ordinary as ours, and as the world emerges from a pandemic with millions of children like ours growing in it, business would be wise to adopt the simple lessons we’ve learned because they don’t just help us, they help everyone.

Embrace the sensory experience

As I’ve mentioned before, Sensory Breaks are a huge benefit for autism families. Either at sporting events or amusement parks, the ability to break from auditory or visual stimulation is helpful in sustaining an experience over a long period of time. If a baseball game is 3 hours, one sensory break may allow a family to split that game into two more manageable periods of time. It also allows those who may not be on the spectrum a place to relax if they’re too worked up, or help somebody with a headache a place to just detach and cool off.

Conversely, “sensory” isn’t a bad thing. The popularity of sensory experiences from fidget spinners to ASMR videos show there is a vast…