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Description
To the parents, siblings, and family members who see their children in a new light, who choose to see the beauty, value, and worth not in spite of the autism but because of it, who allow their autistic children to be authentically autistic,

To the educators who push aside the paradigm and make their classrooms a diversity-celebrating, acceptance-creating haven for different minds and fidgeting hands, who inspire students to love themselves and their peers for who and how they are, who understand peeks and valleys in performance and who don’t attach personal value to test scores or behavior charts,

To the therapists who see autism not as something to be cloaked with correct responses but as a valid way of being with strengths to refine and weaknesses to stretch gently, who see autism and growth, autism and progress, autism and success as something that can co-exist,

To the employers who take a chance on an employee that may not be conventional, dress conventional, act conventional, speak conventional, work conventional, but who let the unconventionality shine through their business and those who keep it running, who understand that accommodations are not impositions that slow down the cogs but the very lubrication that make the cogs glide smoother than they ever did,

To the kind strangers who see duress not as a personal failing but as a valid, worthy human being going through a hard time, who pass looks not of judgment or condemnation but of concern, empathy, and love and compassion, who give kind words and gentle reassurance, who see stimming and smile and go about their day,

And to the autistic advocates, writers, bloggers, poets, speakers, video-makers, social media posters, students, children, adults, everyone willing to share their autism with the world (or even a small corner of it) so that autism acceptance may grow into the hearts and minds of everyone, who work to make better autistic tomorrows and a kinder, safer society for autistic people of all autisms,

Thank you.

-Unknown

Description
To the parents, siblings, and family members who see their children in a new light, who choose to see the beauty, value, and worth not in spite of the autism but because of it, who allow their autistic children to be authentically autistic,

To the educators who push aside the paradigm and make their classrooms a diversity-celebrating, acceptance-creating haven for different minds and fidgeting hands, who inspire students to love themselves and their peers for who and how they are, who understand peeks and valleys in performance and who don’t attach personal value to test scores or behavior charts,

To the therapists who see autism not as something to be cloaked with correct responses but as a valid way of being with strengths to refine and weaknesses to stretch gently, who see autism and growth, autism and progress, autism and success as something that can co-exist,

To the employers who take a chance on an employee that may not be conventional, dress conventional, act conventional, speak conventional, work conventional, but who let the unconventionality shine through their business and those who keep it running, who understand that accommodations are not impositions that slow down the cogs but the very lubrication that make the cogs glide smoother than they ever did,

To the kind strangers who see duress not as a personal failing but as a valid, worthy human being going through a hard time, who pass looks not of judgment or condemnation but of concern, empathy, and love and compassion, who give kind words and gentle reassurance, who see stimming and smile and go about their day,

And to the autistic advocates, writers, bloggers, poets, speakers, video-makers, social media posters, students, children, adults, everyone willing to share their autism with the world (or even a small corner of it) so that autism acceptance may grow into the hearts and minds of everyone, who work to make better autistic tomorrows and a kinder, safer society for autistic people of all autisms,

Thank you.

-Unknown