Parents As Autism Experts and Autism Northern Ireland

There are very few, autism "experts" here who are not parents of children with autism. Yet we rarely hear from them. I am one of those experts.

No one understands my boy's particular autism the way I do and no one can help him as much as me.

Autism Northern Ireland, March 15, 2009

Autism Northern Ireland is a brand new blog (since March 15 2009) which makes the interesting comment cited above in its first post. The blog does not provide any profile information about the blog owner but the initial comments indicate that the author is the parent of an autistic boy living in North Ireland that has been involved with autism organizations in Northern Ireland for several years and has not always found them very helpful.

I agree with Autism Northern Ireland's first post. Autism disorders are defined and diagnosed behaviorally. No one knows our autistic son's behavior as well as his parents. We are autism experts, at least in respect of Conor. And that very special , particular expertise helps us see through some of the nonsensical generalizations about autism that are promoted on the internet and mainstream media alike.

I look forward to reading further posts and comments at Autism Northern Ireland.

autism