When I was 13 (back in the early eighties) I was diagnosed as "borderline schizophrenic". It took until my eldest was 12 to find out what that meant: I am autistic, and like my son I am high functioning. No one told me why acted the way I did, why I couldn't handle crowds, noises bothering me, why I cried easily, why I was the way I was.

Today I am employed by a fortune 500 company, once owned a house, successfully helped raise one Audie and am helping raise the other one I made. My eldest is going to complete college and move into the medical field.

I have come to understand I am not broken, I am DIFFERENT. I am helping a friend who has a low functioning daughter by being able to help her understand what is going on in her daughters head based upon my own experiences.

We will never be normal, but we CAN become good parents, good citizens, good people. Please if nothing else please help those poor kids who couldn't figure it out, didn't and don't get the help they need, be an advocate.

From a child who got left out in the cold, left to die and somehow survived please for the love of all that is Holy, don't let a another child suffer my fate. I know I am doing what I can to help.