Having more than a vested interest, I tend to keep track of autism news.  Two recent articles - here and here - have shown a genetic link to autism-like symptoms.  There's still some controversy over what 'causes' autism but more and more evidence shows a common factor is in the genes.

Which, for better and for worse, means autism is part and parcel of our son.  It is in him, a inseparable and fundamental fact.

That doesn't have to be a reason for mourning, and it certainly isn't a reason to celebrate.  It just is - part of him from the ground up, so to speak.

And while it has to define who he is in many ways, I want his main identification to be whatever he wants it to be - reader, dancer, flirter (oh yes.  He can work a room in a way that Valentino would envy and take notes on) or his apparent current one of 'raiser of daddy's blood pressure'.  He is a fill in the blank who happens to be autistic, not an autistic person who happens to be fill in the blank.