I have two kids: my son is 8 and nonverbal autistic, and my daughter is 10. My sister-in-law constantly complained that our family had to \u201cadjust everything\u201d for my son, saying he ruined every family gathering. At Thanksgiving, she made the same hurtful comment again, loudly enough for everyone at the table to hear.<\/p>\n
My daughter suddenly stood up, walked over to her aunt, gently held her hand, and said, \u201cAuntie, he\u2019s the kindest person I know. He just shows it differently. Maybe if you actually paid attention, you\u2019d see that.\u201d Everyone became completely silent as she continued through her tears.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe doesn\u2019t ruin anything. You do. He can\u2019t help how he is, but you choose to be mean.\u201d My sister-in-law\u2019s face turned red. She began crying and left the room, leaving everyone at the table stunned by my daughter\u2019s honesty and courage.<\/p>\n
About an hour later, she returned and apologized to all of us, especially my son. She admitted that she had been afraid of him because she didn\u2019t understand him, and my daughter\u2019s words made her realize how cruel she had been. Sometimes, a child\u2019s simple words can remind adults that difference is not something to fear\u2014it\u2019s something we should take the time to understand.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I have two kids: my son is 8 and nonverbal autistic, and my daughter is 10. My sister-in-law constantly complained that our family had to \u201cadjust everything\u201d… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":81364,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-81363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n