One main reason I wrote my new book, My Picture Perfect Family, is to bring much-needed public attention to the talents and challenges of children with autism. Despite myths to the contrary, individuals on the spectrum DO seek close friends and make intimate connections.
This week’s “NY Metro Parents Magazine” features my article “Twin with Autism Seeks Someone to Love.” You can read an excerpt below:
When Samantha was 8, she threw a coin into a fountain. “I want to get married someday,” she wished. Risking her wrath, I asked why. “Why” questions are difficult for many young children on the autism spectrum. But my daughter replied without hesitation: “Because I want someone to love.” I was surprised and moved. Not only was Samantha answering a high level “why” question, but she was also expressing the active (and generous) wish to love, rather than be loved.
If ever there was a mother motivated to make her daughter’s wish come true, I was that mother. But how would Samantha learn to build an intimate relationship, I worried, when she couldn’t even get along with her neurotypical twin brother?
Marguerite Elisofon is a New York City writer and the author of My Picture Perfect Family, a memoir about how her family navigated life with a child on the autistic spectrum before the internet and support groups existed. She also blogs about parenting young adults and disability related issues in The Never Empty Nest. Her writing has been featured in a variety of publications, including Time and NY Metro Parents magazine, and her family’s story has been featured by the NY Post, Fox News, The Daily Mail, and on Jenny McCarthy’s Dirty Sexy Funny radio show. A Vassar graduate, Marguerite was born and raised in New York City, where she still lives with her husband, Howard, in their mostly-empty nest. She is available to speak about a wide variety of issues relating to twins, parenting, and autism. 