How We Discovered Our Child Has Autism by Kamau Austin. Post 1.

Hindsight is 20/20. When I look back at some of the things that were clues to my daughter's unique challenges there become clear indicators that something was amiss.

My daughter was born fighting for her life. Even when my wife was in labor the doctors were alarmed because her heart beat kept dropping.

After my wife delivered our baby and would have to stay in the hospital a couple of days, I happened to walk over to the baby nursery before leaving the hospital. As a new dad I wanted to see my new baby daughter off before heading home.

What I saw behind the observation glass was very alarming! I saw an intemperate nurse manhandling my daughter (although the nurse was a woman).

I remember the nurse rolling my daughter over back and fought cleaning her roughly because she was crying so violently when she was a new born. Obviously my daughter was shocked (as anyone would) by water and soap being rubbed all over her body -- for the first time.

The nurse reminded me of so many city or civic workers who hate their jobs and are nasty and indifferent at doing their jobs.

Right in the new born nursery I could see symbolically my daughter will have to fight to survive despite the mishandling of others -- the rest of her life.

I didn't want to appear as another over protective parent (perhaps all newborns respond the same way getting their first bath). Plus if I had yelled at the nurse given her behavior I had no idea what she would do to my daughter once I left.

I decided to make my presence known and watch the nurse who calmed down once she saw me looking closely at her actions.

More than likely looking back at the situation my daughter may have been responding to the rough washing with more fight than other children because of the more highly stimulated autistic children are purported to be.

We will return to this more indepth in our next post.