City of Legends

There are those who believe that Autism is a handicap, a disease brought on by vaccines, a natural evolutionary progression in the human genome, the result of flouride in drinking water, a variation in the brain that can be dealt with via proper environmental adjustments (including eliminating gluten from one’s diet), and/or a direct result of sonograms.

I don’t know which, if any, of these answers the questions.  I do believe it is not one issue, but several, just as (for instance) cancer is not caused by one thing and does not manifest itself just one way.

My son, Dante, in whom I am well pleased, has been diagnosed with an Autism Spectrum Disorder, most often referred to as PDD:NOS (Pervasive Development Disorder:  Not Otherwise Specified).  He thinks differently than your average person.  He feels things differently.  His response to emotional stimulus can be intense or none at all.  He has problems reading tones of voice and body language and facial expressions.  However, he is 15 and doing college level mathematics and is being actively recruited by dozens of high-end colleges from coast to coast.  In past years he would’ve just been considered a nerd or a geek, like both his mother and father were, and that would be the end of it.  But there is a greater understanding and perhaps an opportunity for Dante and others like him to have greater choice in their worldview and wiring.

Years ago, those who had these attributes would either find a way to blend into society or eventually be removed from it. I wonder how many potential Einsteins and Hawkings ended up in mental health maintenance facilities, their variant way of experiencing the world forcing them out of it?

He and I joke that he’s a space alien.  It’s a good working metaphor that he, I, and his fraternal twin brother can have fun with.  He’s wired a little differently that us normal humans, that makes him sometimes hard to understand or interferes in his ability to understand, but it also opens up a whole new layer of awareness if you try and see the world through his eyes.   I believe it is that one out of every 166 children born today have one of the Autism Spectrum Disorders.  If that figure has been consistent, just under reported, that means there are close to 2 million people with Autism in the United States today.

More than the number of people who live in West Virginia.

We need research to help find better ways to help those who are at the most debilitating points in the spectrum.  Dante is lucky.  He’s in a very good school system and has family that loves him and adapts to him while still keeping the pressure on to socialize and stay involved in the world (oh, and he’s a level 80 Human Paladin on World of Warcraft).  Many are not so lucky.  Some come from households where there are multiple siblings with Autism.

I read today an article on CNN about actress Didi Conn and her and her son’s struggles with PDDNOS.  The picture shows a young man with an earnest smile.  He looks a lot like a darker-haired version of Dante.

I know young people with Autism who call themselves "Autists" and take pride in their unique way of viewing and dealing with the world, often expressing it through their creativity.  Some applaud their sense of identity, some think it is wrong to embrace, I personally think that if it makes them happier and helps them deal with their unique challenges, so much the better.  And there are far, far worse peer groups to be a part of.

I love my son, completely and without reservation.  I embrace the fact that, while there was a time I was considered gifted in mathematics, he makes me look pale by comparison, and he’s only begun to shine.  I consider him remarkable.

Happy World Autism Day, Dante, and everyone.

I’ve got to buckle down and get some traction on my various book and CD projects this weekend…too much going on, and I have allowed myself to be distracted.

I am on the verge of a major announcement, one that will impact just about every corner of my life, including my writing and my web presence. It is funny that in order to achieve this I have had to walk through some of the places I have had to walk through, but I never said I didn’t have to learn some things the hard way.

No, I am not giving away cityoflegends.com to a real estate development, nor am I seceding from the United States, to create a government of, for and by the poets. I am not marrying at this time, nor am I acknowledging a child previous conceived out of wedlock (I pretty much know who my kids are and its all public). I am not reconciling with either ex-wife, signing a multi-zillion dollar deal to write supermarket-shelf soft-core porn, or starring in a big-budget remake of "Purple Rain" with an all-white cast.

I do not, to my knowledge, have a fatal disease other than being human (which has 100% mortality). I have not spoken with extra-terrestrials, discovered a cure for leprosy or decided to back Newt Gingrich for President (this would invoke the Nosferatu’s Dream).

Be patient.

The other day I was speaking to my autistic son, Dante, and asked him if he was happy. He paused, unfocused for a second, then snapped back and told me that he was. He smiled.

Just be patient. Love to all. Act Three, the curtain is about to rise.

I see where Time this week has a cover story on autism. I’ll have to pick up a copy.

I have a son, Dante, who has a very mild form of autism, sometimes referred to as PDD-NOS. He can function in the normal world, although his communication style makes him a bit of an outsider in middle school. A shame really, intellectually he is superior to his classmates, already doing math at a college level. His "curse", his "disease" actually makes him in some ways better than those not "afflicted". He’s my own private mutant, my own private "X-Man".

His powers of focus are remarkable. Coupled with a type of obsessive-compulsive disorder common in PDD-NOS kids, he tackles problems with an aggression of mental faculties that is incredible to behold. I was scary-smart as a kid, alienating many of my peers. He makes me look like I was developmentally disabled. If our society doesn’t crush him for being different, he and others like him can unlock an order of scientific truths that might make survival on this planet a better and an easier path.

Of course, first he’ll have to get through his teenage years, a period that is rough even on the most mainstream of people.

But his fraternal twin brother, Elric, is riding shotgun. He lacks Dante’s "Homo Superior" intellectual talents, although exceptionally bright in his own right, and is "normal" as people would define it, in his brain function. He has his brother’s back and his best interests at heart.

Couple that with his mother’s mama-bear protective reflexes, a sister who’d take a bullet for him and a dad who, while somewhat still in exile, would do just anything for him and he has a good chance of developing the coping skills needed to get by in a world he is superior to in most ways.

Mozart to several billion Salieris, a daunting task.

But what is a superhero born to if not to overcome impossible odds?