As many of the parents in the Autism community, I was sickened by the tweets by 50 cent. What sickened me more was that I had just finished watching an Oprah episode with him and thought, hey maybe this guy isn’t half bad, maybe he just had a bumb wrap. I was giving him the benefit of the doubt and the truth is I enjoyed some of his music. I grew up listening and dancing to hip hop music and I can’t deny bopping to “find me in the club.”
So here I am just days ago watching this episode seeing him with new eyes, only to be blinded sided by these disgraceful comments about our children.
My first reaction of course was disgust and sadness for my sweet innocent son, who is unaware that people would use his diagnosis as a derogatory term. My sweet Mikey, who is 5 years old, non verbal and who has a heart bigger than anyone I know. He is the most loving child I have met, he loves completely UNCONDITIONALLY, he shows love everyday with kisses and hugs and cuddles, and I may be biased, but he is one damn good looking kid. If I sent a picture of him to 50 cent he might be a little jealous because the truth is he is way better looking than 50 cent ;).
It took me until today to realize something. I feel pity for 50 cent. As much money and fame as he has, he is still an insecure man trying to prove himself, trying to prove he is better, trying to prove that he is worthy by putting others down, to raise himself up. As many twitter followers as he has, he let one person get to him, and then he had to try and belittle this person by insulting an entire community of people who he does not know. He does not know the pain, the worry, the heartache a parent of a child with Autism goes through, he does not know the strength and power and resilience a child or adult with Autism has. All he has done was prove once again that even if you have money and fame it does not mean a damn thing, that God will judge us all the same, and let me tell you 50 my son has more love, purpose and strength in his pinky finger than you do in your whole body. You are an ignorant man who probably spoke without thinking, but nevertheless, in your position you should know better. You let your haters get the best of you, because you have no confidence, you don’t believe you are worthy, you worry about what others think instead of worrying about leading by example, making a difference and leaving a positive mark in this world.
I will pray for your soul tonight 50 cent, because the truth is, as much as you have, you are so much worse off than my son and FYI only if you had a child with special needs could you feel the most unconditional love there is, and the truth is, you are not deserving of that.
This is what AUTISM looks like, and boy is he BEAUTIFUL!
