Happy Autism Acceptance Day & Neurodiversity Week!
By: Lauren Benson
Hi there! My name is Lauren Benson, but you may know better by my street name, [email protected]. I started with Keystone in 2017 and have been holding down the traffic duties since then. It’s funny because my tenure at Keystone lines up perfectly with my journey as being a mother. I found out I was pregnant with my daughter mere weeks after I started this position. Scary, right? Little did I know the ride I was about to get on had many unexpected twists and turns along the way.
Like most first time Moms, I was preparing and reading all the books and thinking about my new life ahead. Creating registries, setting up-cribs and picking out names. I was so prepared for the first few months of my newborn’s life, that I didn’t really think much about what would come after. I gave birth to a beautiful, healthy daughter on January 6th, 2018, and named her Aubrey. She was the biggest blessing in our life. To say we were over the moon was an understatement. Now don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t perfect. Long gone were the days I could take naps or shower whenever I wanted. Waking up multiples times a night was norm. However, we made it work and eventually got the hang of things. Before I knew it, Aubrey was turning one. She had a lot of friends, and we were so happy to make it through our first year! As she was getting older, we started to notice that she wasn’t doing a lot of things that her peers or friends were doing. Especially talking. My girl just did not want to talk, and we were even unsure at times if she understood what we were saying. It was a defeating feeling, I thought what on earth was I doing wrong? Was I not engaging her enough? I found myself so envious of my friends who had kids that could talk and say “Mama”. I felt like I was being robbed these milestones with my daughter. Finally, after months of concern a little bit before her second birthday we decided to get her evaluated. That started our journey into our new life of Neurodiversity. It was a scary path to go on, as we didn’t even think that this could be a reality for our daughter. We got her in therapy (then the world shut down with COVID) but eventually she started to flourish. She was diagnosed with Sensory-Processing Disorder. She participated in Early Intervention, joined our school system with an IEP and still to this day participates in Speech and OT at school. If you got to see her now, you would never know all the work and time and tears that came along the way. Homegirl doesn’t stop talking and is one of the smartest girls in her class. To say I am proud is an understatement.
Around the time Aubrey was two, I found out I was pregnant with my son. There were times during that pregnancy where I thought to myself “Well this is going to be different; I will get to experience raising a child who will be typical” Spoiler, I was wrong. My sweet baby Frank was born on December 23rd, 2020. He is currently 4 years old and has level 2 Autism. He is the sun in my sky and just as extraordinary as my daughter. We have gone down the exact same road as we did with my first-born. The difference this time, was that I was a neuro-pro.
This week is Neurodiversity week, and April 2nd is World Autism Day. Something that I never knew would mean so much to me. We are celebrating all the amazing people in this world who fall under the category of Neurodivergent. My hope is to raise awareness and break stereotypes for what exactly that means. What brings me such comfort at times is knowing that I am truly never alone. 1 in 36 children will be diagnosed with Autism. For a long time I was terrified and scared for what the future of my children’s life would look like. I was guilty of stereotyping Autism. However, being a neuro-spicy Mom has opened my eyes to just how large this spectrum is, and how one experience may differ than most.
I am ashamed to admit that at times during my journey that I was envious of things that my kids weren’t doing, and wished I could experience milestones how they were meant to happen. Until one day, it finally clicked. My kids may not have had the normal path of development, but there are so many things that I would have never experienced otherwise. I learned that comparison is the thief of joy, and that when my kids do excel and have their victories it makes the celebration that much sweeter. I encourage all of you to read the poem “Welcome to Holland” by Emily Kingsley. I also encourage you to think differently as to what Neurodiversity means and looks like. Every person in this community is damn cool and I promise that your expectations will be blown away. I mean can your 7-year-old name the year every Disney movie came out?
Finally, to my two children. Aubrey and Frank, you have given me the best seven years of my life. I truly believe that everything we have gone through as a family has been the biggest blessing I could ever receive. I am so proud of the both of you every single day. Your path may be different than others, but I know it will be a successful road with a lot of love and achievement. I can’t wait for the next chapters, and to watch you grow into the people I know your will become. I love you so much and would have never wanted it any other way.
