How to Make the World Safer, Happier and More Supportive for Autism Families
A Diatribe by Joell Dunlap Sept 20, 2015
It’s not science, nor research. It’s not engineering. It’s not even (dare I say it?) education.
The answer is – wait for it – it’s what you don’t want to hear – but it won’t cost you a cent and it will improve our lives, but it strikes fear in the depth of our beings. The answer; is love.
Love with a lower case “l.” Love in everyday things. It’s not complicated and you don’t need to read a book about it. You don’t even have to understand it much. It’s just fucking love.
If it’s that simple why isn’t it happening?
Truth is – it is. It’s in the posture of the dad in front of me in the BBQ line at the airport while his handsome autistic 
teenaged son flapped and toe walked in circles while he ordered. In the teacher who works up a smile instead of an admonishment when her undiagnosed student launches into a monologue about cat breeds. In the autist herself as she steps back and views the people around her as strange and amusing aliens. In the sleepy dog who wants to run away from but instead stays present with the anxious boy tugging her ears. In the horse who lowers her head knowing that the hand approaching her face will poke her in the eye again.
When we acknowledge this love – we can re-create it in the hard times. We can forgive us our sins as we trespass against ourselves and our community time and again. Then, we radiate that love. We can’t help it.
And the world begins to change.
love! It is the answer – love!
And, as I say “love breeds happiness and happiness breeds learning and without love we have nothing”!