autism’s siblings: what a 7-year-old has to say about autism and her brother

After reading an article on Huffington Post titled, “My Sons Love Their Sister but Not Autism,” I decided to ask my non-autistic daughter a question.

I thought Payton would have a different perspective so I asked, “Payton, do you like autism?” Payton answered, “Yes.” Then I shared with her what I’d told the nursing staff at the hospital where I speak on autism. I had told the nurses that Payton is the best sister I could have asked for Jeremiah. I went on to tell her how amazing she is, and how much she understands autism.

She smiled, thought for a few moments and said, “Another sister might have loved Jeremiah, but may not have understood Jeremiah.”

This video stemmed from that conversation. I wanted to share this 7-year-olds perspective on autism.

We went through the questions only once before this interview. There are some things Payton said during the note-taking that I thought I’d share with you. Note: She didn’t use notes while doing this interview.

Question: Is there anything special about Jeremiah?
Answer: He makes cool sounds. He makes me more interested in autism.

Question: Do you like your brother?
Answer: Yeah. Some people might like Jeremiah or love him, but might not understand him. Like, I like Candice (girl at school), but sometimes she pulls my hair.

Question: Do you know Jeremiah loves you even though he can’t tell you with words?
Answer: Yes. If I didn’t have a brother like this I wouldn’t be so happy about what he’s learning. (She does get VERY excited when does something new, and often points it out, or shows great interest when we tell her about it.)

Question: How do you know he loves you?
Answer: He’s gentle and touches my hair and holds my hand. Sometimes he’s not gentle, but he usually is and that makes me feel like he loves me and likes me.

She also made comments over and over about how what Jeremiah does and that learning about autism “makes her feel really good inside.”

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