I Remember a discussion my husband and I had with the psychologist that diagnosed our son. We discussed whether we should identify our son’s diagnosis to others. She encouraged us toward this end but with several cautions.
The first caution: do it when we are ready. Emphasis on WE. My husband ad I needed to both be ready for our son to be identified as having autism. This is true of most decisions we’ve made for our son. We need to be in agreement because if we aren’t together then we lose the benefit and support of the one who wasn’t ready for this decision to be made. Often, we’ve found it’s not the decision that’s a problem. It’s the timing of the decision. Parents are ready at different time. It is important to wait on your spouse to come to the decision you”ve “Known is the right way” for a long time.
She shared with us that it won’t hurt to wait. She also shared that “once it’s shared, there are on do-overs. If it doesn’t come out the way you wanted it, it’s out and there’s not much you can do about it. Taking some time to think through exactly how you want tyo communicate the information will help you feel confident once you’ve spoken publicly about it.
We'll continue to look at some caustions on this subject next week. This included the questions what to share, whom to share and how to share.
