Another Kind of Normal

I don't know whether this is the story of Jeff the autistic individual, Jeff the man of God, or Jeff the medical enigma; but I do know it is the story of Jeff, my son. Jeff was so autistic, and yet not autistic at all if you used the textbook definition. He had huge sensory integration issues and appeared to be living inside of himself, but he cared so much for God and other people that their needs always came above his own. He had severe speech issues, only spoke one-word answers, but wrote beautiful papers and prayers when given the Canon communicator. He desired to go to regular school and be normal only to decide normal wasn't so great after all and he blossomed much more when he got in an adult program at the Intermediate School District. He talked about screaming inside but no one could hear him while on the outside he wrote his name and address every day and brought home the result of his effort every evening only to go back to it another day. As he got older and understood himself more, he developed a split personality. Retard was the autistic guy who couldn't relate to the world while Jeff was the man of God who kindly tried to put everyone else at ease.