Have you ever wondered what the non-verbal person with autism is thinking or have you ever been too afraid to talk to the person in the wheelchair because you don’t know what to say? Well I have! But Mr. “blunt” Jonny doesn’t hold any punches. When I signed Jonny up for football when he was in Jr. High School, his coach was in a wheelchair from a truck roll-over. When Jonny finally met the coach face to face the first thing out of his mouth was “Hey what happened to you? Did you fall and slip in the bathtub or something? The Coach Dave nearly fell out of his wheelchair because no one had ever dared to even mention his condition. We laughed. We should all learn to adopt some of Jonny’s clarity, honesty and wisdom in our approach to special needs people.

And I keep learning more every day. There is no instruction manual for being a special-needs mom. Truly, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.