Carly Fleischmann

Thanks so much to Judith at Autismville for directing our attention to this ABC News story about Carly Fleischmann. She's a 13-year-old with autism and although she is non-verbal, a couple of years ago she started to convey her thoughts by typing on a computer. Her story is fascinating to this parent of a child with autism.

One of the most interesting quotes from Carly, in my opinion:

"Autism is hard because you want to act one way, but you can't always do that. It's sad that sometimes people don't know that sometimes I can't stop myself and they get mad at me. If I could tell people one thing about autism it would be that I don't want to be this way. But I am, so don't be mad. Be understanding."

She also says that some of her unusual behaviors are due to the fact that her legs can feel like they are "on fire" and that there are "a million ants" on her arms.


Carly also answers viewers' questions here

My favorite:

Question: "What one thing do you think my autistic child would want me to know about him?"
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Carly: "I think he would want you to know that he knows more than you think he does. He is lucky to have nice parents."


You can also read about what Carly's parents have to say here.