Change A Life: Invite Someone to Play
Have you ever thought about how you’d like to change a life but didn’t quite know how to do it? Instead of stressing over finding the perfect charity to volunteer for – and don’t get us wrong, it’s wonderful to volunteer – consider doing something a bit more closer to home, like inviting over a friend with Autism or another special need.
Children with autism face so many challenges, among those challenges is the difficulty of making friends and interacting with others. It’s so hard for them to find others they can relate to, in fact many have no friends. By inviting over someone with a disability, you’re giving that special person a chance to actually build meaningful connections and to feel like he or she fits in – two things everyone needs. Not only that, but you’re also allowing for yourself and your family to be educated about the true nature of those who have Autism or other disabilities.
Don’t think that changing a life has to be a grand or public display. You can change a life for the better by simply extending a hand and including a person with a disability in your child’s play time. Remember, this simple gesture could make all the difference, for you, your child, and that special person with different abilities.
I so wish more people would read this. To be invited to a friend’s home or quiet event is so much more special now that we have two little boys with Autism and, since then, never receive an invite anywhere that they can go (only invited to big events that everyone in a particular group is invited to by default). We would love to come to your home, have you in our home, playdates at the park, and so on.
I see the world differently being neurologically complex, I have been behind that glass screen and not been heard. As adults we need to speak out as we are the children of yesterday, we can all be more inclusive of children they are tomorrow future. And those that understand what it can be like when a child’s self esteem is crushed, we need to be the child’s voice speak out for them, we need to encourage others to embrace each child for the unique individual they are.
I now know my neurologically complex self and my smile in now real, no longer fixed. It has been a process and because of not being allowed, embrace or understood as a child, my journey in parts like a rubbish tip continually being dumped on. So I speak out in the hope one day we can all celebrate diversity and difference not stress over it…
We are not born to find life a constant struggle just to live it for everyone else, we all need to find our own place and if we support this generation of children, we can instil courage that is often needed to help them make a real difference to the future of our planet earth, as life itself can seem complex at times, but by sharing and giving it reminds us all there will always be some worse off than others, that’s what makes me and should others grateful for who we are and what we have:
LET – our Lives, our Existence, our Terms!