You called my 7 year old, non verbal, autistic daughter a "brat". If my daughter was neurotypical like your perfect child, I would still be outraged that you called another child a "brat". How dare you! When your children become bullies don't you DARE look to blame anyone but yourself. My daughter is SEVEN, and she is far from a "brat".
Yes, I confronted you because I care about how people treat her. Do you have any idea what we go through? Therapies, special schools, a device that gives her a voice, meltdowns because she has difficulty in noisy and crowded situations and can't voice her fears and frustrations.
I wouldn't normally dwell on this, but you tried to talk your way out of it when I politely explained my daughter to you. You made excuses, you stuttered and then placed the blame on everyone BUT yourself. My husband and I both heard you, and we were both VERY aware of what our daughter was doing. She was at the top of a very tall slide and she slid past your son who was poised perfectly at the top waiting for you to snap a picture.
It's difficult for us to go to public places for many reasons. You have no clue how hard we work to get her to "blend" in society and act appropriately so that she doesn't have to endure people like you. She has every right to enjoy the same things other kids do. We have spent the last 4 years trying to teach her to "wait" and "be patient". She just happened to have a "moment" which I am sure your child NEVER has (insert sarcasm) where she was impatient, pushed past him and went down the slide. I'm sure you also noticed that me and my husband ran over right away and corrected her. We were 100% aware of the situation and stepped in accordingly. I'm pretty sure at this point that you could probably tell something was not right with my daughter based on her actions, but yet you still continued to yap about her pushing past your son. Has your son never not waited his turn, got impatient, or just had a bad moment? If not.....you are one lucky Mom and one of a kind.
My husband had some words with you, and you were very condescending and rude. He's a better person than I am because he walked away. That's something I wish I could do. I don't have that in me and you pissed off Mama Bear. My daughter doesn't have a voice so WE are her voice. I will fight for my daughter until my last breath.....doesn't every parent?
I intended to "school" you on autism and I said to you, "My daughter is not a brat, she has autism and doesn't understand what she just did and I am sorry for that." You got defensive, talked over me and then tried to blame others. Not only that, but my cousin heard you STILL talking about my daughter several hours later while in line to get some food.
Moral of the story: You have no idea what we go through on a daily basis, how hard it is for us to give our daughter the same experiences that you give your child(ren). My daughter deserves the same things every other child does. She may have acted "inappropriately" at that moment, but she is a very sweet and loving little girl who just happens to have autism. I hope that maybe you might learn from this and be a bit more compassionate in the future. You have no idea what others are going through. Her disability might not be seen at first glance, but that's even more reason for you to stop, think, and put yourself in someone else's shoes..... just once, and stop being so quick to judge.
We are not perfect parents by any means, but we do everything in our power to protect our kids.
