STORY 1

The first Noah Knows! empowerment meeting was held in March of 2006. It began with my determination as a mother of a son diagnosed with an Autistic Spectrum Disorder to find information I needed to help my son. After the diagnosis, after the shock, after the confusion, after the hurt, after the anger, after the denial, and then the shock again, I asked myself, "What do I need to KNOW for Noah?" The navigation through the chaotic mazes of medical, insurance, therapeutic and educational systems, often put me back at the starting point-but only more determined to start again. "What do I need to know?" became the driving question. Thus my journey began.

As I began to read, search, review, ask questions, re-read, re-search and ask the same questions over and over again, I wanted to share. The more I came to know, the more compelled I became to share with others. The more I shared with others, the more I came to know.

The more I helped Noah, the more I helped others. The more I helped others, the more I helped Noah. It was and still is a win-win situation!

Story 2

When Noah was very small, he would become fascinated, almost obsessed with straws. He had to have a straw in his hand it seemed most of the time. Out of hundreds of straws in a box, which all looked the same, he would seriously size up a handful until he found the right one. We would watch in amazement as he would turn a straw left, right, upside down, measuring each straw with meticulous scrutiny. If for some reason the particular straw of the day was misplaced or discarded by someone other than Noah, we would have to quickly replace it. Within seconds after determining that it was not his original straw, he would become terribly upset, throwing each replacement straw aside as if it were something other than a straw. We were baffled, because to us they were all the same. They really looked all the same. We would ponder with amazement, "what does he see different in all these straws which look exactly alike?"

What we failed for so long to realize was that to him they did not all look the same. What we failed to realize was that through Noah's eyes, he could see the uniqueness, the detail, the perfection, and the imperfection, -the beauty in something so plain and so simple- a straw. For my family, the straw has become symbolic for many things.

The world tends to stigmatize children diagnosed with autism as being "in their own world" suffering from a disconnect as broad as the spectrum on which they are diagnosed. But I am convinced, they are very much in "our" world, seeing, everything we see but fail to look at. They look at beauty, because they are such beautiful gifts from God. They look at uniqueness because they are created from a divine Source, which creates no one and no one thing exactly alike in the universe-straws included.

I am convinced that my Noah, like all the other "Noahs" was sent to teach us what we need to KNOW. Knowing patience, acceptance, humility, gentleness, dependence, endurance and so much more have been lessons taught while on this journey. And I suspect I will be tested over and over again.

Yes, I am convinced that my son knows more than I will ever know. He is my teacher. Why? Because I am convinced that Noah knows.