This morning I wrote my wonderful Wednesday post - that I hope something wonderful comes out of the latest viral social media autism trend - Ben's little blue cup. I'm delighted that Marc, Ben's dad, who started the search for a rare sippy cup for his son replied to my post.
There are millions of Marc's and Ben's out there having their daily little blue cup struggles. Some much bigger and some even larger still. As Marc says, it's not about a little blue cup, it's about autism. I know many autism parents would love if the thousands of people who are trying their best to help out by looking for a cup, could as well take time to understand and gain some autism acceptance.
Read my original post and comments here - it'll tell you about and show you a picture of the cup people have been emptying their cupboards for. Thank you Marc for replying. I wanted to share this now so it was distributed with today's post to our subscribers. Here it is.
"Good morning, thank you for the lovely words. I'm far from a fab dad - didn't you note my twitter name! I do my best, I had to stop work to care for my 3 children (my oldest lad is an adult - I own a man now!) who all have special needs. I really needed a new cup for Ben, I've searched daily for 3 years and thought I'd ask twitter. I honestly thought it would be incredible if it got shared a few hundred times and so,done shouted 'found one!'.
And then it went a bit crazy I guess. Some of the places it's been shared have been viewed and shared hundreds of thousands of times, it's been picked up by news agencies in Australia, Canada, the US and Nigeria, it's one of the most read articles on BBC New(s), I'm about to go on Virgin Radio and the BBC are coming later for a follow up. In all this it's so important to realise this isn't about me, it's not about a little blue cup, it's about autism. Autistic children don't choose to have their life controlled by their condition, I can tell stories about adults I've supported that would shock even those parents who think they can't be surprised by autism.
My heart goes out to all of the carers who have to struggle daily with things that seem so trivial to the rest of the society - I think you are all fab parents and I admire you all.
Best wishes
Marc"
Yep agreed. Why are people so caught up on this blue cup when there are probably ASD children near them who would just love a bit of acceptance. Don't get me wrong, I'm so happy that he found one but people are getting dragged into the simplicity of this request and not looking at the bigger picture. A x #SpectrumSunday
ReplyDeleteIt's great that social media can play it's part in making people more aware and accepting about autism. After all, isn't that why we all write our blogs and use social media to spread that word. And good on Marc for putting the story out there, I'm sure finding that blue cup will make a real difference to Ben, and be one less challenge he has to overcome.
ReplyDeleteBut you're also right, it's easy for people to share a feel-good story like a search for a blue cup, and feel like they've done something to help and go back to their everyday lives, no more autism aware than they were before.