I'm puzzled...

I understand the need for every cause to have a symbol, but I've always been puzzled (no pun intended) by the puzzle piece symbol for autism.  I am a huge advocate for the awareness that no two children with autism are the same (or no children are the same, period!), but when you put two children with autism together, you won't automatically see the whole reach of autism.  In fact, you could put 50 million children with autism together, and all you will have is a  huge headache but no certainly clearer understanding of the next child to come along with autism. 

For me, autism is not a puzzle.  My child is a puzzle.  Sure, there are some characteristics to autism, but I have never met anyone who said "my child does 100% of the things your child does!".  Just when I think I've got her figured out, Bugsy will do something completely out of left-field and leave us all standing around like clueless fools.  But then again, it's this puzzling for every parent out there, whether their child is typically developing or not.

I guess the moral of this story is I would appreciate it if people in general were not so quick to trip over themselves looking for a "cure".  I'm still not convinced this is a disease.  While I do wish things were sometimes easier for our little Bugsy, I don't look at her and wait for a cure.  This is just the way things are, and the way that she is.  Just like some people have blonde hair, blue eyes, or can curl their tongue, my Bugsy happens to have a bunch of weird quirks that someone somewhere decided to label with a word: "autism". 

Every child is special and unique - my Bugsy just happens to be a little bit more so.  The only puzzle piece she is - is a puzzle piece to the mosaic of my heart.  The only bigger picture she is a part of is our family picture.