I thought this appropriate for today.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is Jonny’s hero.
Ever since his first “Martin Luther King Jr.” assembly at school. Even when he didn’t understand exactly WHAT he did, or why he is remembered.
When he was 5, I asked him what he learned and he said, “When your skin turns colors and you can’t go to the bathroom, you call Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.”
I love the fact that he didn’t understand racism at all. I have since explained it to him, but the fact that he didn’t understand that some people will see others differently because of the way they look is EXACTLY the viewpoint of the dream that Dr. King envisioned.
It was the same when I explained Jonah’s autism to him. I was expecting Jonny to react the same way I reacted and was ready to reassure him and comfort him and tell him that “Jonah would be fine” and “no need to worry about him…”
But I didn’t need to.
Turns out, Jonny doesn’t need an explanation of ‘autism’ to understand his brother. His brother isn’t ‘autism.’ His brother is JONAH.
And no ‘label’ will change his view of him.