Meltdown Cards

December 22, 2003

Found some images for cards, but I'm not sure if these are the exact cards

that others are selling:

I sort of like the " cannot tolerate waiting " cards. Would be wonderful at

restaurants, wouldn't it? Of course, I wouldn't abuse the privilege.

(Because, I actually *can* tolerate long waits as long as I'm not late for

something else).

Of course, the " only children are autistic " meme seems to be an epidemic.

It would be nice to have *adult* resources. Still, one of these meltdown

cards may be better than nothing. If I do have a child, autistic or not,

I'll make sure to buy a case. Simply because I'd like to have a " not my

fault " card I can pass out. It would also possibly allay the stress of

autists with auditory sensitivity. They'd still be in physical pain, but

they wouldn't feel the emotional stress involved in the conflict between

wanting to confront me about my screaming child and wanting to avoid

confrontation. So far, the best START of an interaction I've heard on the

subject is:

Parent: " I'm sorry for my child's screaming. "

Autist: " It's OK... It's not your fault, it's the child's. "

Unfortunately, the parent didn't realize that the apology was accepted and

understood, or the parent was suffering from an exaggerated form of

neurotypicallity which prevented her from understanding

" theory-of-other-minds, " that she was in fact NOT her child, and not

DIRECTLY responsible for her child's screaming. The *correct* response to

this situation for the parent would be, " Thank you for understanding, I will

remove my child to a less frustrating environment until she/he calms down.

Enjoy the rest of your museum visit. "

Perhaps we could put up some " Social Stories " on http://isnt.autistics.org

____________________

" I'm easily confused. It's part of my boyish charm. "

-- Kaiden Fox

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