But particularly kids with more profound autism are kind of being ignored even more because the label's been taken over by people who are actually using it as a, as a self-identification, almost in a way of pumping themselves up.

Yeah.

And h- here's what often goes, um, gets misconstrued about my advocacy, because I would dare to say things that so many people just aren't willing to.

I have absolute-- H-honestly, honest to God, I have absolutely no problem with people using a label that they've been given.

And I do not hold higher-functioning autistics responsible for what's happened in this space.

I don't, because that's the label they've been given.

Also, that's the label we've been given, and our experiences could not be any different.

Can you talk a little bit about that with the aim of people who are listening, if they want to understand more powerful ways that they can start, um, you know, helping us move in the right direction, what might they be?

What set you on fire that you had to share and get your people on board?

Well, very much the same as Liv.

Having a connection with these members that are on the IAC, realizing its parents are profoundly affected individuals, so they get it.

It's not just pie in the sky, virtue signaling for them.

It's actually real world.

They've been in the trenches for decades.

Sylvia, again, I believe this was on her Instagram.

getting that help.

So good on you for staying in there.

Well, that journey is very real and for me that manifested in itself that I didn't feel like a good dad because I couldn't solve the problem.

After years and years and years, none of these miracle cures worked for us.

I'm so glad that they've worked for other people.

But at the end of the day, my son didn't need a mentor.

He needed a carer.

And that role typically falls to a mom, particularly in the earlier years.

So what is the goal now?

It's not cute

anymore, right? It's no longer cute.

I think there's an artist named Jess Ron, she wrote a poem called When He Outgrew Cute.

And that's the reality of it.

That's where we're living now.

And you see, so I've sat and looked back on my life and I can see my, as a parent going through all of these same stages that society has gone through about, oh, it's a gift and it's going to be what makes him special and sets him apart.

And I tell myself these stories because I'm coping with the reality of trying to handle that mystery, right? I'm grieving.

You have to have balance just like everything else.