Let me set the scene…
2 adults, each fiercely gripping an arm of a little boy who is flailing around on a stranger’s grassy front lawn. The kid, laying there; kicking, crying, writhing. The two women each using all their might to wrestle this power-house of a little boy off the ground. Meanwhile, two bright blue shoes lay in the middle of the street.
To me….this is an obvious scenario. Clearly this child has some special needs- hence the public meltdown on a neighbor’s front lawn; hence 2 adults pulling and straining and fighting and pleading and begging him to please get up.
But to the owner of the house…apparently not an obvious scenario. Instead, his look of horror and disgust said it all… His first thought was not that something must be wrong here. There must be some bigger issues at play here. No, his first thought was “What are these people doing on my lawn!”. As he pulled into his drive way, he raised his hands and shot a look of irritation, aggravation, and anger.
He must have missed it. All the clues were there, though… How did he not see it? How did he not notice?
He didn’t notice the struggle on my face.
He didn’t notice the pain in the boy’s eyes.
He didn’t notice the fight we were putting up just to move this boy an inch.
He didn’t notice the frustration in our bodies.
He didn’t notice the tension.
He didn’t notice the desperation.
He didn’t notice the strength it took.
He didn’t notice the battle.
He didn’t notice the toil.
No, he didn’t notice any of that. How did he not notice?
theautismonion.com 
He decided not to notice. That is the problem with a lot of people. They see spoiled, not autism. Sad, but true.
Yeah. It just amazes me how many people still don’t know about autism or what it may look like.
Angelina, thank you for your post, Notice. You have managed to say so much in such a short article. Beautifully written and I am sharing it on our page.
Thanks Lorna, what a nice comment! 🙂