It’s amazing how when you’re confronted with the very thing that you’re trying to raise awareness about, you discover that there’s so much more that you need to know yourself. This is the situation that I found myself in last night. My wife and I were making a quick trip to the store to get some groceries for dinner when we ran into a young man, about 20, and his parents. As he saw me coming, heturned and said, “Can I shake your hand?” Though confused a little by the situation, I figured sure, why not? After shaking his hand, he immediately burst into an angry rage and started yelling at me. His parents seemed worried and embarrassed by the situation, and tried to explain by saying, “We’ve been working with him. He has issues.” They didn’t explain any more than that, but apologized to us and tried to calm him down. I can only imagine the times that they’ve faced similar situations in the past and struggled to explain that there son was on the “Autism Spectrum.” We assured them that it was ok, and moved on to our shopping.

After that, I couldn’t help but feel I had done something wrong. I felt like I could have said something to make it better. Maybe if I had done something different, this young man wouldn’t have responded the way he did. I felt both embarrassed and sympathetic for his parents. This went on for several minutes until I looked up and I saw him heading my way again. I thought to myself, “What do I do now? I don’t want to make things worse.” Frozen in place I saw him reach out to shake my hand once more, and I tentatively returned the gesture. As we shook hands, I was pleasantly greeted by a much different tone as he said, “I’m sorry for how I behaved.” He then introduced himself and asked for our names. After that, we were no longer strangers and he felt comfortable calling me “Buddy,” “Pal” and “Friend.” Over the next five minutes I learned more about him than I could have ever anticipated one could learn about someone else in such a short span of time. As we left, he cried out, “By Chris,” and we headed to the checkout.

This whole situation raised the question, what would I do if someone I loved behaved in an unexpected or “inappropriate” way in public, but could seemingly not control it? How would I explain a developmental disorder like Autism that so many people either have not heard of or haven’t encountered? Better yet, how should I have responded in this situation? Could I have done something different? Some of these questions still remain, but one thing has been confirmed. Autism isn’t some rare disorder that is inaccessible and few will ever encounter.  On the contrary, a new case of Autism is diagnosed every 20 minutes. Two Cent Offering’s partnership with Talk About Curing Autism (TACA) is an exciting chance for us to help raise a voice for those aren’t always able to raise their own.

We want you to be a part of this journey. Please join us in learning more about Autism and how we can make a difference. You can check out TACA’s website at www.tacanow.org. You can also help TACA out by downloading our song, “Speak Without A Sound.” http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/speak-without-a-sound-single/id457001750

- Chris