Will it matter or make a difference?

Will my actions matter? Will pretending to be a speech and language therapist everyday make a difference? And even lately, will this post, a letter to Tess Stimson, result in something more than just a few page views?


At least once a week I pour my heart out online.

Most week's, in amongst the craft activities to help with motor skills, language development etc posts, there's a story I hope those with no idea about autism, or sometimes ADHD take on board.

I started blogging here for three reasons:

• I had developed this wealth of knowledge that people seemed to want from me.  Whether it was how to seek help for kids with additional needs at school or how to cope with a lack of sleep as a new mum, I was always being asked for information.  Due to the nature of being an autism mum I never had time to give full attention to give to these requests - so I thought I'd write then down.
• I had wonderful and sometimes sad stories about my kids that I was desperate share with others. Stories that bring hope, joy, connection to other families in a similar position.  From a victory at a playground to how we knew it was time to tell our son about his autism, it's here.
• Finally, I started to use it to raise awareness. What is it really like to witness your son's autistic meltdown as a their mum, what's it like to hear your son say he wants you to kill him? These posts are some of my most popular.

And so it's no surprise that comments fall into 'Thanks, I'll try that', 'Thank you so much, I felt alone' and lastly, but by no means least 'I knew very little about autism before I read your post.'

Each one of these is precious to me. But the truth is, my blog only stretches so far.  I don't have hundreds of thousands of page views or visitors. I share my heart through linkies (a bloggers way of sharing and supporting each other) through online publications like The Mighty, and even recently through a conference.  But it's nothing like the circulation of say, a national newspaper... or is it?

I wrote a post that could make a difference on a bigger scale. I wrote a letter to a Daily Mail journalist called Tess Stimson. Tess Stimson had written an article about her frustrations with parents and their misbehaving kids in public. It included that disabled kids and autistic kids should be controlled by their parents.. or left at home. I took what would be seen as a stance of betrayal for many parents like myself - I apologised.

There I was, once again, pouring my heart out online.  Explaining that I try every single day to help my children cope with the around them and learn how to operate in it.  But, to do this they need to given the chance to do so.  The post was viewed by just a few thousand - it was my most widely viewed post so far by a few hundred views.  It by no means went viral, as I never expect them too.  I'm always hoping that maybe I'll help one mum or carer or spread awareness to a few more people.  This time it included the intended party, Tess Stimson, the journalist I'd written to.  She not only read the post, but responded... and a bit more.

Tess Stimson said the post was 'heart-felt' and she was 'moved' by it so much she'd asked the Daily Mail to commission an article where she spends a day with a family who have children with autism so they can learn from each other.  Since then the National Autistic Society have offered to put Tess in touch with families she can meet.

My 'apology to Tess Stimson, the people on the plane and in the restaurant', had touched someone enough to consider more than their own opinion. It won't appear on the letters page of the Daily Mail, but it could still end up spreading a message of awareness to the readership of the Daily Mail through a third party.

So here I am, pouring just a little of my heart out online again. My kids will only survive in this society if its prepared to have them in it.  Please have a read of my letter and if you think it would be good for the newspaper to spread a bit more autism awareness then you can let them know via a link at the bottom of the post.  It may not be my story but another story about autism that raises awareness would still be a great thing to achieve.

And if the article is not commissioned, I hope that Tess Stimson will still consider meeting a family with children on the spectrum. Even if she is the only person to be a bit more aware of autism from my post, then I suppose it did matter and has made a difference.

What do you think?