Finding Your Best Life

My son, you matter.

I feel the need to say that today. Loudly. To all of these people who read about you. Who love you and want to learn about you.

Not to remind myself. Or you. Because I know you are amazing. I know you love trains and paper and the movie Alpha and Omega.

You sleep with six blankets every night and hug your brother every morning and like your chicken nuggets cut up.

You love mail. And Amazon. And making noise.

You are a person. A human. A boy. You will be a man someday.

I’m saying you matter because sometimes people get off track.

People who make decisions regarding your life based on data.

They forget that you are a child first.

You are also autistic. You have autism. You know that. We know that. I always say it’s woven through you. It’s your color kid. It’s where the light hits. It’s you.

On paper it’s not colorful. It’s black and white. It’s level three severe. There are a whole lot more words in there too. Stacked up tall. Mommy doesn’t like to read them. They are on a piece of paper in her drawer.

I don’t need them to know you.

I don’t say them much anymore. Mostly because people on the internet tell me there is no severe autism. And I don’t want to fight anymore. I’m too tired to fight. I just want to help you have your best life. You are Cooper.

I want you to be happy.

Well today someone told me you are too severe for the severe autism center. You are too much. Too much autism. Too much everything.

They’ve never met you. Not once. They don’t know you have blonde hair and hazel eyes and that you love being tickled.

To them you are a file full of paper. Check marks compiled into data. A spreadsheet. Then a graph. It goes up and down. I’ve seen it. It’s in my drawer.

You are ranked. They won’t admit that but you are. You are a number. Not Cooper. A number.

They want the less severe kids. The less autistic kids.

Well kiddo. We are at a crossroads. I’m pretty sure you aren’t changing. This is you. This is me. We are a lot. And we aren’t black and white. We are the bright reds and oranges on fall leaves and the blue and teals in the ocean. And we ain’t always easy. This I know.

But I will never dull that color kid.

And you matter. Please know that. The words don’t matter. The data. The numbers. The graph. It doesn’t matter.

You are your light. And it is brighter than I could have ever imagined.

Finding Cooper’s Voice is a safe, humorous, caring and honest place where you can celebrate the unique challenges of parenting a special needs child. Because you’re never alone in the struggles you face. And once you find your people, your allies, your village….all the challenges and struggles will seem just a little bit easier. Welcome to our journey. You can also follow us on Facebook, subscribe for exclusive videos, and subscribe to our newsletter.