I always say, when life gives you lemons. Make lemon drop martinis.

Yeah, I've been drinking a lot of those since my son was diagnosed with Autism 5 years ago. It's also "sink or swim". I've become a pretty good swimmer and a damn good drunk! I spent the day at a seminar for Autism. I stopped going to those things the first year Pudd'n was diagnosed. They could not tell me nothing I did not already know and had nothing new to offer me. So why did I go today after so many years? Dr. Temple Grandin. She is a high functioning autistic woman. She's traveled the world, written books and is in demand for constructing cattle shoots at meat packing plants. She is the first one to give me a glimpse of what my son may be thinking or feeling. My son is non verbal and damn is that challenging. If I ever hear "P.E.C.S." leads to language again, I will fucking scream. But that is another story.
Temple has a sense of humor, she is articulate and a great speaker. She does have sensory issues, but has learned to work with them. She was the first one to show me that my son won't go up to be a vegetable. She gave a list of great jobs for Autistic people to do, the key is to find what they are good at and build upon that. Great, good, but now what the hell is my son good at? Right now, not too much. He is not a "savant" (like most people think all autistic kids are) hell, he can't even tie his shoes. Temple also talked of the horrible teasing she got as a kid. Autistic kids have a hard time telling facial expressions. I hope to Goddess my son does not encounter people like this when he is main streamed. When Temple was finished, she got a standing ovation. She rightly deserved that. I wish all those close minded, snot nosed brats could see her now (maybe they have, she's also been on TV).
Another reason I went was that Temple's mother was also there to speak. It was like she was speaking directly to me. She knew my deep dark fears, she gave me hope. She is a mother that had a severely autistic child in a time where the blame was put on the mothers for the condition (50's -60's). I came away from the seminar with a little glimmer of hope. Some day, if I'm lucky, it will be my son up there showing the world that Autistic kids can do great things. That they are people too, they hurt, they empathize and they LOVE.