I am friends with the mother of an autistic child and I see the struggle that each day brings her. It is an impossibly difficult task to care for a child with autism. I respect your statement about autism not being all fun and games. I admire you for pointing out the ugly side of the issue so vividly.

I do not think autism is all fun and games and I have aspergers syndrome. I have had sensory overloads and painful panic attacks all my life. I wasn't diagnosed until I was twenty four and going through the education system without even knowing that I was on the autism spectrum made things difficult. I have severe problems that have prevented me from holding a job for more than six months. I also have fine motor problems; I needed ten years of orthopedic therapy to gain the ability to write legibly. It was a grueling process that I do not wish on anyone. I was ridiculed by my peers as I grew up because of my social and physical awkwardness.

My wife also has aspergers syndrome and she can hold a job, but she gets very upset in some situations and this can cause a lot of turmoil. We give speeches on autism to help people better communicate and understand autistic individuals. We both struggle in day to day life, but we are living and things are getting better. I have recently found a career that I have a good chance succeed in that puts my years of college to use, but there are no guarantees that I will succeed. I realize that some individuals with autism are never able to be independent and I do not think all cases of autism will be success stories.

I believe that both sides of this debate over autism as fun and games or a horrible experience overlook common sense. Autism is a spectrum; every person with autism is not suffering, but every individual is not succeeding either. I have endured things that I do not wish on anyone, but I am determined to make something of my life. The fact that I have aspergers does not define me, it merely illustrates a group of traits that I have. Autism is not all fun and games, but it isn't all misery either. Painting either of these pictures of autism is similar to saying that every person is good or every person is evil. It does not represent reality at all.