This is one of those times when my southern upbringing tells me that I have to accept that this person "means well," and not tell her directly how I feel. It wouldn't be worth it, and it's condescending to go around having teachable moments.
But is autism Joseph's superpower? I asked my husband, Abe, to make a stupid analogy, and without missing a beat he said, "that's like saying 'fat is my superpower.'" Really, what does my kid gain by being on the spectrum? I get that there is an autism acceptance movement, just like there is a fat acceptance movement.* But the people in the acceptance movements are the same ones who are always screaming about not being labeled! I have no problem with labels, actually. If I couldn't explain my son's behavior with a diagnosis, he wouldn't get the few accommodations he does get at school.
Back to the graphic, though, I truly don't understand the slogan. Joseph doesn't even like superheroes, never has, and has no use for them. Does this mean that when this person thinks of my kid, she immediately thinks of autism? What kind of message is that to send to a kid? How about, "math is my superpower?" Or, "when I saw this picture of Mario fighting Bullet Bill, I thought of Joseph."
More than anything, for some reason I have tried and failed to pinpoint, that picture made me pull an eye muscle from rolling them so hard. It reminds me of one of those glitter greetings that were so popular around the MySpace heyday.
If you're into cutesy graphics, please tell me why I'm a dumbass. If you're not, tell me why you're not, and whether you had a similar vomitous reaction.
* For those of you who have a degree in pretending to be a lawyer on the internet, I'm aware that you can't compare fat acceptance to autism acceptance, or else you've set up a scarecrow argument or something. But I'm still going to make a habit of comparing unlike things. That's why God invented similes and metaphors.
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