Going Beyond Awareness

I have always been torn by the idea of Autism awareness or awareness of any other label for that matter. On the one hand, healing begins with awareness but on the other it can highlight separateness, us and them. Awareness is an important first step but we can’t stop there.

By learning about Autism we remove fear, we remove segregation, we remove labels that separate us and we realize how similar we all are. At the end of the day, we all want to be loved, we all want to be accepted for who we are, we all want our place in society, we all want to feel like we belong.

I pray every day that I get to witness a huge change in humanity where we begin to see from the eyes of soul. When we look at each other we see what unites us instead of what makes us different. We see don’t see disabilities but instead different abilities. We create the space in our society for every single person to have a chance to become a productive citizen no matter how small the contribution.
Children with Autism have taught me how to look beyond what is in front of me. They are my greatest teachers about life, about love, about authenticity. Although I cannot change the world, I can change myself. I know that we all have the choice to live from lack and fear or to live from love. Today I chose to live from love. So when you cross paths with a person with Autism or any other ability, choose to see them with eyes of love. From that space we are all one.