My blog is anonymous to protect my kids. For this reason I have never used their names, names of schools or our location in any of my posts. The point of my blog has never been to gain fame but to raise awareness, inspire and help others. If you follow me you will know that as well as travel posts, I have included more personal posts about our experiences. I chose to do this to hopefully provide something that others with autistic children could relate to. I’ve included the bad experiences we have had throughout the years to try to highlight that change is needed in the world. In no way were these posts meant to give the impression that my son was bad and I have only used his examples, with his permission, as a tool to help others.
Unfortunately, even though I thought I could trust those that know me personally and therefore know I write this blog, recently a child at my son’s school got hold of my blog and started a campaign of bullying against my son. He has dug deep into past articles and been horrible to my son about things that have happened in the past and spread the word to other kids in their class, screenshotting and showing them examples from my blog and making my son out to be something he’s not. This child then rang and threatened my son. The school listened to the recording of the phone call and advised me to go to the police which I didn’t because the child involved probably doesn’t need that, but if it carries on then I might have no choice. This whole experience has caused me great upset and turned something intended to be good into something bad.
I don’t normally give in to bullies or teach my children to, but I have been made aware of this childs background and it is clear to me that he is simply not capable of fully understanding either the implications of what he has done, nor the reason behind the content in my articles. This child has made life very difficult for me and I don’t want to further fuel his hate campaign.
For this reason I have had to make some difficult decisions. I am aware of the fact my personal posts help others, raise awareness and understanding and ultimately change lives. They have been read by thousands and linked to from many other websites. I have received many private messages either thanking me for them or asking for help and I have been able to give advice and be there for people facing things we have been through. Our story has even been used by a research team for a TV production in New York hoping to portray some of the challenges autistic children face. Despite all this I have removed many past articles from my website. I will no longer be posting anything using examples of my kids or our experiences on my blog or facebook page. I will continue to post reviews of days out, hotels, restaurants, holidays and products with information for parents/carers of autistic children. I will continue to post my Disney parks help and ride descriptions. I will continue to post autism specific posts and advice posts for families, educators etc but you will see significantly less of our personal story and experiences of autism.
I sincerely hope my followers will understand why I have made these decisions, especially those that have been following our journey from the beginning and that you will continue to read and find my site useful. I am sorry that the actions of one child have caused this but thank the hundreds of thousands that understand and for the huge support you have given me throughout the years.
Just an idea to consider after all I don’t know the full circumstances. But sometimes getting the authorities is the best way to help a troubled child. When a therapist called Child Protective Services on us, mistakenly, the CPS had the money and authority to get us all diagnosed safely, citing the only abuse our children were suffering was abuse through process due to the wrong medical treatment (we are all 6 of us autistic with anxiety/depression), changed our lives for the better. When police suspected my husband might be suicidal they got him fast tracked into a therapist. We are raised to be caring but sometimes the best thing we can do is let the authorities do what they are trained for, it could be the best for the poor kid as well as helping you and your children.
Having said all that I don’t know your situation, you do. I really respect you.