I only started using Twitter a couple of months ago because I just never understood the concept or the appeal. Now I love it! I have met so many wonderful people on there! There is also a lot of real time discussion and support. On November 20th Elise who tweets under @RaisingASDkids started a fantastic trend called #youmightbeanautismparentif. Elise also blogs and here is her blog post on starting this trend with @ManyHatsMommyMI.
This has been a huge trend on Twitter and I have “met” some new great people to follow and interact with. We all have similar but different stories. I love my son but sometimes there are challenges and it is good to know that I am not alone. I encourage everyone to go on Twitter and check out the hashtag!
Since I am smart enough (haha) to follow both of these wonderful moms on Twitter I watched the trend start & immediately tweeted something along the lines of @RaisingASDkids this is awesome! And she replied with something like well join in!!
Okay so here are mine:
#youmightbeanautismparentif you have to go to five stores to find the right flavor of poptarts
#youmightbeanautismparentif your child taught themselves to add at age 4
#youmightbeanautismparentifyour child helped their teacher figure out what was wrong with the computer
#youmightbeanautismparentifyour child wakes you up at 2AM to tell you how they fixed the computer that you spent hours trying to fix
#youmightbeanautismparentif you are on first name basis with the customer service rep at health insurance company -Give me my money please
#Youmightbeanautismparentif you find yourself hunting for silly putty for your 14 year old and he is super excited to get it!
#Youmightbeanautismparentif you are constantly asking your 14 y.o. “What’s in your mouth?” And it is never food or gum.
#youmightbeanautismparentif you have to stand in the aisle for an eternity while your pre-teen smells every single deodorant before buying 1
#youmightbeanautismparentifyour heart literally stops when your spouse says “are we out of ______ food item” when trying to pack lunch
@DefytheSpectrum #youmightbeanautismparentifyour kid drowns w/syrup but only at waffle house because he won’t eat waffles anywhere else! (in response to: @DefytheSpectrum #youmightbeanautismparentif he won’t eat the waffle/pancakes until EVERY PIECE has some syrup on it.)
#youmightbeanautismparentifyour kid used up all the colored ink printing out all the pokemon characters (was few years ago)
#youmightbeanautismparentif you pack a meal for your child when you go to a family dinner (the few times you go)
@AutistLiam#youmightbeanautieif People accuse you of “choosing not to speak” because you can speak some of the time
@AutisticSpeaks #youmightbeanautieif this #thanksgiving, your 24th, was the first year you ate everything offered at the table.
@HardAspie #YouknowyoumightbeanAspieif You have writ a poem to your calculator.
@Soundless2 #youmightbeanaspieif hide in the bathroom at parties to get a break from everyone.
Other blog posts of collections from #youmightbeanautismparentif
Unhandicapping the Disabled Life
If you also have a blog post related please add in comments! Of course any other fun comments are welcome too!
Update: ManyHatsMommyMI posted info on her blog with a Linky so go link up your #youmightbeanautismparentif blog posts there too!
New ones:
#youmightbeanautismparentif you are debating about going to high school with your kid on monday to make sure the day goes okay
#youmightbeanautismparentif just told your 14 yo other kids goofing off while he was talking were just covering their lack of knowledge
#youmightbeanautismparentif you started a blog to share your story with your teenage aspie just to help other parents
#youmightbeanautismparentif you are willing to do ANYTHING to keep him from being tormented from other kids
#youmightbeanautismparentif your teenager just got excited when he heard looney tunes music on TV
Great post. The hashtag has now spread to UK special needs bloggers.and I’ve joined in too. Its brilliant because whenever I think of something that is unique to our situation it gets tweeted. I particularly love your tweet about eye language. I so get this.
Might do a blogpost on this too; a good way of remembering our tweets I think. Deb x
#youmightbeanautismparentifhave to ask “will you eat square pizza from pizzahut, it’s what is on sale?” & almost faint replies “yeah, why?”
This one! Except it is my husband :: sigh ::
Thanks for sharing my Linky tool. 😉 I am just amazed, but really not surprised, at how long this is going. You are exactly right–there is so much support for autism families on Twitter! I didn’t get Twitter either and gave up the first time I tried. Then my writing buddy told me I really needed to give it another go. I would never have made so many friends if I hadn’t listened!
My hubby and I joke the J, our 5 yr old Aspie, is just like Sheldon, down to the preference for stripes and body build! My sister started watching Big Bang Theory and said, “Oh my word! That is J in 20 years!”
Thanks for sharing your tweets!
great post – i totally understand the not getting twitter thing. I don’t think I’ve ever tweeted so much in my social networking life 😉
reading the responses from the autism community was also great.
This is one of mine: #YouMightBeAnAutismParentIf you don’t mind riding up and down escalators at the mall because it makes your kid happy.
It is an awesome thing we have going on right now with Twitter!!
Here’s the link to my post as well.
http://paintingwithpicasso.blogspot.com/2011/11/you-are-not-alone-youmightbeanautismpar.html
Loving the support at #youmightbeanautismparentif – good to know others understand the things that make up our lives! 🙂
Oh my gosh, I am seriously laughing and crying at the same time (as I look at my aspy son zip by in his inside out/backwards t!) So glad to find you all! Looking forward to future tweets:)
Amy,
Glad you found us! I love that hashtag on twitter! Cute image of you laughing & crying as he zips by in inside/out backwards t- at least he had clothes on!
Stopped by your blog too and look forward to reading about your son too.
These are very funny! So, really, this Twitter thing? Because I’ve been resisting it for sooo long now…