Pearls of Billy Wisdom

Something interesting's happened over these holidays.

All of a sudden, Billy's developed the ability to explain, in his own words, some of his idiosyncrasies. His autistic quirks.

First there was the statement to his Nanna, that he 'hates people'. Qualified with 'I don't hate people, I hate all of the people in the same place as me.'

Then, while he was struggling with waiting for me to secure his seat belt, anxiety building, I asked him why he was getting upset. He said, 'This makes me want to get away'. I asked whether he wanted us to get going on our car trip, and he said, 'No... on my inside, I feel like I want to get away. I just don't want to be here.' I'd call that an excellent description of anxiety.

He has a lot of jerking movements that he cannot control. He told us recently, it feels good when he jerks his arms. He said it feels like a hug makes him feel.

The other day, he explained why he squints sometimes, or looks out of the corner or his eye, or uses one of his hands as a kind of visual guide, in front of his eyes. He said it 'pulls things together, so he can see them being still.' I'm a bit scared by what that means really, what the hell is going on with his vision?

But, my fears aside, it's amazing to start getting some insight into the way he sees the world, and how he feels the world... I think being to explain, makes it much easier for him too.

I tell you, you wouldn't wake up screaming for it in the night, but autism is amazing. Without wanting to sound like I'm some creepy voyeur, it's taught us a lot about life, people, respect, empathy... I could go on and on...