#youmightbeanautismparentif…

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If you’re on Twitter, you may have noticed something of a phenomenon lately. Over the last week or so, a community has begun to form. Some brilliant soul (if you know her / him / them please leave details in the comments!) began to use the hash tag #YouMightBeAnAutismParentIf .. and it caught on. Like really caught on.

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Parents of children with autism are connecting with one another around the hash tag. They’re sharing their stories – 140 characters at a time, they’re offering us all windows into their family’s celebrations, their heart-breaks, and above all, their overwhelming love for their kids.

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It’s a pretty amazing thing.

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I both love and hate reading the various tweets. I love them because they remind me that we’re not alone. I hate them because .. well, they remind me that we’re not alone.

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The following are some of the tweets that I’ve posted there over the past few days.

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If you see yourself in any of them, come on over and join the conversation.

@diaryofamom jess

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#youmightbeanautismparentif you find yourself celebrating and heartbroken – at the same time and for the exact same reason.

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#youmightbeanautismparentif you work and pray for the day that you can finally shut the hell up because your child can self-advocate.

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#YouMightBeAnAutismParentIf you’ve listened in vain for the hoofbeats and then remembered – we ARE the cavalry.

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#YouMightBeAnAutismParentIf you’ve asked a doctor if every degree came with a crystal ball, or just theirs.

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#YouMightBeAnAutismParentIf you’ve spent a lot of time debating ‘has autism’ vs ‘autistic’ and still feel comfortable with neither.

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#youmightbeanautismparentif you stop and think about the implications of anything you type here – other parents, indiv’s w autism, NT public

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#YouMightBeAnAutismParentIf you are desperately grateful for a community whose very existence you curse.

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#youmightbeanautismparentif letting your autistic child pick up the phone when telemarketers call just feels right.

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#youmightbeanautismparentif the “F word” in your house is FLEXIBLE.

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#youmightbeanautismparentif you’re pretty damn impressed with yourself for not crying until AFTER the meeting.

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#YouMightBeAnAutismParentIf you know every word to every (fill in the blank) movie ever made.

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#youmightbeanautismparentif you have lost your ability to stomach pretense in any form.

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#youmightbeanautismparentif you’re sitting alone w your kid in her room while the whole family is gathered downstairs for thanksgiving.

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#youmightbeanautismparentif you’re trying really hard to be thankful 2day, but your heart breaking for your kiddo is making it awfully tough

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Amended to add:

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diaryofamom jess

#YouMightBeAnAutismParentIf you simply can’t die. EVER.

26 Nov

diaryofamom jess

#YouMightBeAnAutismParentIf you’ve started to think that flapping and spinning is actually a pretty reasonable response to the world.

12 hours ago

diaryofamom jess

#YouMightBeAnAutismParentIf You know full well that you ‘buy’ a good day with a tough evening. #kidcanonlyholdittogethersolong

12 hours ago

diaryofamom jess

#YouMightBeAnAutismParentIf the next person who tells you that God doesn’t give you more than you can handle might want to duck.

12 hours ago

diaryofamom jess

#YouMightBeAnAutismParentIf you’ve learned to stay eerily calm in the middle of a sh-tstorm.

26 Nov

diaryofamom jess

#YouMightBeAnAutismParentIf you’ve ever seriously considered taking a swig of your kid’s anxiety meds.

26 Nov

diaryofamom jess

#YouMightBeAnAutismParentIf you don’t *prioritize* so much as *triage*.

26 Nov

diaryofamom jess

#YouMightBeAnAutismParentIf you’ve learned that human suffering is not a competitive sport @autismville

26 Nov

diaryofamom jess

#YouMightBeAnAutismParentIf you try to get the dark black smudged eye liner under your eyes off, only to remember you’re not wearing makeup.

26 Nov

diaryofamom jess

#youmightbeanautismparentif you’re just like a regular parent – on steroids.

26 Nov

diaryofamom jess

#YouMightBeAnAutismParentIf you know that when you’ve met one person with autism, you’ve met *one* person with autism.

25 Nov

diaryofamom jess

#YouMightBeAnAutismParentIf you’re pretty sure your kid would never leave the house if given the choice.

25 Nov

diaryofamom jess

#YouMightBeAnAutismParentIf you + kiddo are in pjs @ 5:45 on fri night bc the planned family dinner out never made it out of the house.

25 Nov

diaryofamom jess

#YouMightBeAnAutismParentIf you’ve discovered that ‘family’ need not be defined by blood.

25 Nov

**

diaryofamom jess

#YouMightBeAnAutismParentIf when you call for someone across the house your child reacts as tho you’ve just seared her w a branding iron.

13 hours ago 

diaryofamom jess

#youmightbeanautismparentif you know details of (fill in the blank) that no one should know. #DoratheExplorer‘slastnameisMarquez.

13 hours ago 

diaryofamom jess

#youmightbeanautismparentif your child asks you where ‘your husband’ (who happens to be her daddy) is at any given time. Just us?

14 hours ago 

Amended again to add:

diaryofamom jess

#youmightbeanautismparentif you ALWAYS have a strategy, a backup plan and a predetermined escape route.

13 hours ago 

diaryofamom jess

#youmightbeanautismparentif you’ve spent a lot of time on the other side of the door - wp.me/pNO8N-2Ft @spdbn

13 hours ago 

diaryofamom jess

#youmightbeanautismparentif some days you just don’t have the tools to make it better. And it hurts like hell.

3 Dec 

diaryofamom jess

#youmightbeanautismparentif you get angry at times, but you know that it doesn’t serve you or your child to live there for long.

3 Dec 

diaryofamom jess

#youmightbeanautismparentif .. the #CommunityBragPage makes ur heart soar with the POSSIBILITY of what r kids CAN do -wp.me/PNO8N-1

3 Dec 

diaryofamom jess

#YouMightbeanautismparentif your definition of ‘funny’ has changed. A lot.

2 Dec 

diaryofamom jess

#youmightbeanautismparentif you know that behavior IS communication.

1 Dec 

diaryofamom jess

#YouMightBeAnAutismParentIf you barely glance at Twitter outside this hash tag cause a) you’re out of time and b) all the cool kids are here

1 Dec 

diaryofamom jess

#YouMightBeAnAutismParentIf you know that ‘autistic people lack a sense of humor’ is also horsesh-t.squashedmom.com/2010/09/twinkl… @squashedmom

1 Dec 

diaryofamom jess

#YouMightBeAnAutismParentIf when you say ‘there aren’t enough hours in a day’ you know for sure because you’re up for almost all of them.

1 Dec 

diaryofamom jess

RT - @trishpip: #youmightbeanautismparentif you have gained a lot of weight because you eat your stress. – (hell, I eat your stress too) lol

1 Dec 

diaryofamom jess

#youmightbeanautismparentif your kid can’t tell you what happened an hour ago, but three years ago? #rememberseverydetail

30 Nov 

diaryofamom jess

#YouMightBeAnAutismParentIf you know that autism is one word, but there is no one autism.

30 Nov 

diaryofamom jess

#YouMightBeAnAutismParentIf you would give anything to crawl inside that beautiful mind and find out what’s going on in there.

30 Nov 

diaryofamom jess

#YouMightBeAnAutismParentIf you would give anything and everything you have to sustain those fleeting moments of connection with your child.

30 Nov 

diaryofamom jess

#YouMightBeAnAutismParentIf when the smoke alarm in your house gets triggered, so does Armageddon.

29 Nov 

diaryofamom jess

#YouMightBeAnAutismParentIf you know that ‘People with #Autismlack empathy’ is horsesh-t.

diaryofamom jess

#youmightbeanautismparentif you’ve spent a lot of time on the other side of the door - wp.me/pNO8N-2Ft @spdbn

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And, not for nothin’, but I’ve got to share some of my all time favorite Diary mentions:

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@KristinMacchi:

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#youmightbeanautismparentif your morning news comes from @diaryofamom

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@trydefyinggrav @TwinsMa:

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#youmightbeanautismparentif you’ve read A Diary of a Mom’s Welcome to the Club:adiaryofamom.wordpress.com/2009/05/01/wel… #Autism@diaryofamom

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@MoniqueAscencio:

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#YouMightBeAnAutismParentIf you know who Brooke, Rhema & Bud (& a few others) are. & U cheer & cry 4 them as much as u do ur own child.

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If you’re not on Twitter yet, here’s your excuse. It’s easier than it looks, I swear. Just open an account HERE, follow me @diaryofamom and then click on the part of any recent tweet that says #youmaybeanautismparentif to get to all the tweets using that hash tag.

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See you there!

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