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15 September 2011

Writer's Workshop: No Laughing Matter

       The Hubby and I laugh at the same things--we share a sense of humor. I married the Hubby because he makes me laugh. I know that he has made several of you laugh on different occasions also. We also tend to have an inappropriate sense of humor. We often laugh at things we shouldn't and one of the inappropriate things we laugh about a lot is Myriam's autism.*
       I'm always a little torn when I divulge information like this because on one hand it's really no laughing matter. We're talking about a serious, debilitating (for some) condition. In some ways it's like those horrible quadriplegic jokes that everyone has heard. If you haven't, email me--I know them all. It leads to the question of, is it ok for us to make autism jokes because we are living with an autistic child? For example, I had a teacher in middle school who was of Polish decent and she would tell the occasional "Pollock" joke. She said it was perfectly alright for her to tell those jokes because of her ethnicity. And frankly, I have a couple of "Beaner" jokes in my arsenal that I've been known to break out once in awhile. But is laughing about a serious condition wrong?
       In our case, humor has always been our way of dealing with things; laughter to mask the tears, so to speak. When it was obvious to us that there was something wrong atypical with Myriam we made jokes. When symptoms arose we laughed and when a diagnosis came down we made more jokes. It's all we know how to do.   
       So tonight the Hubby and I are talking about what the teachers are saying about our kids. Most of it good. The topic of rhyming came up. You see, Myriam seems to be completely unable to rhyme even the simplest word. Cat and Hat, um... nope. Nada. The reason this is even significant is because rhyming is a precursor to reading. (Please note that I can list off about 50 words that I know Myriam can read, in any context, including risotto and museum so we're not really too worried about it.) So while we are cleaning up the kitchen and discussing different "areas of concern" in wanders Miss Myriam. She plants her butt on my kitchen table and begins her (echolalia) catch phrase laden spiel. As she chatters away the Hubby asks her, "Do you have mad rhyming skills, baby? Say, I'm a lyrical genius with mad rhyming skills!"

       And that's what we listened to all night long.
I'm a wyrical genus wiff mad rhyming skills!
I'm a wyrical genus wiff mad rhyming skills!
I'm a wyrical genus wiff mad rhyming skills!
I'm a wyrical genus wiff mad rhyming skills!
I'm a wyrical genus wiff mad rhyming skills!
       And we laughed. Because echolalia is funny sometimes.

Ok and here's one of my beaner jokes....
       Why don't Mexicans barbecue? Because the beans fall through the grate!

Peace out!
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This post was inspired by Mama Kat's Pretty Much World Famous Writing Workshop!
*Did you check out the Simple Steps Autism program post I did on Tuesday?
All images and written work, found herein, is the sole property of Rebecca Burton and may not be used in any capacity without express written consent.