KATHRYN R. BIEL: AUTHOR

There are people in your life who will tear you down. If you're lucky, someone will come along and build you back up. I was lucky. I had the same math teacher for grades six through eight. She didn't like me. She didn't hide the fact that she didn't like me. Frankly, I'm sure I was an annoying know-it-all. And math was not my favorite subject. Not that it will come as a shock to anyone who knows me now, but I used to rush through to get it done. In doing so, I tended to make careless mistakes. So, I was not a favorite of my math teacher. But it was, on a day I remember with so much clarity, that she sort of ruined me. She said to me, in front of my whole class that I "would never accomplish anything and would never amount to anything." Nice thing to tell your student. Not surprisingly, I lost all confidence in my math ability. Like one needs a reason to be insecure in those early teen years. Going into high school, after attending the same school...

Today is April 2nd. It's World Autism Day. I shared this on Facebook yesterday: Facebook was also so kind to remind me that on this day, in years past, I've shared the following:  And this one too: I don't need a day to remind me to think about Autism. I don't need to wear blue to be aware of Autism. I live Autism every single day. Somedays, it's so hard. Other days, it's the easiest thing I've ever done. And I know how very lucky we are. My son is autistic. But he's so much more. Trying to sum him up with that one word is like saying he has blue eyes and expecting you to know everything about him from that one fact. He's entering adolescence, which is going to bring a whole new set of challenges. Especially considering that his body is losing control to hormonal fluctuations while his emotions are still about 3 years behind his chronological age, and he lacks the pragmatic skills to express himself without a whole lot of work on m...