“Self Portrait” 2011
Following information is not legal or medical advice. I’m a mom, not a doctor or lawyer. Not providing guidance or advice! Simply sharing our story.
Our family created this website to help our son Jackson, who has autism, accomplish his stated goal of “being a big artist.” He will soon be an adult and need to enter a world that has not always valued the mental functioning of people with autism. As Jackson states, “The autism brain is powerful.” Our goal is for the website to show the power and beauty inside one such mind.
Our hopes:
And finally, we dream of a day where people with autism will be fully integrated into our society. We hope this website provides a small step forward in the advancement of that tremendous goal.
We (Jackson and his family) hope that our website will help people understand that even though people with autism may not use verbal language well or at all, they still have many ideas going on in their heads and lots of potential to communicate. They have viewpoints and interests too! As Jackson says, “People with autism have their own appetites [interests].”
Jackson wanted this website to exist so that he could “be a great artist” and also so that people could understand the autistic brain. He feels that autism makes him a great artist, and it does, he also knows that he needs help with gaining more skills for independence, also true.
“Self portrait,” 2011