Thanks Jon Stewart, from an Autism Mom

Now the good news is this: Bullsh*tters have gotten pretty lazy. And their work is easily detected. And looking for it is kind of a pleasant way to pass the time. Like an “I Spy” of bullshit. So I say to you tonight, friends, the best defense against bullsh*t is vigilance.

If you smell something, say something. — Jon Stewart, on his last episode of The Daily Show

That’s kind of it right there, Jon Stewart’s evolution of “fake newsman” to “newsman-pointer-out-of-the-bullsh*t.” No one was exempt, really. Left-wing, right-wing, Obama, Bush (Dubya), FOX News, MSNBC. There are a lot of us who started out laughing and enjoying his show, then we started learning, agreeing (disagreeing), talking, discussing, sharing and above all, respecting a lot of what he was trying to do. He can say it he “hogged the conversation,” but those of us who were fans kind of liked it that way (in addition to the awesome contributors on the show).

But I’ll always be thankful to Jon Stewart for his dedication to raising money for autism awareness, research and education, just like I’ll always be grateful to Steve Jobs and Apple for creating the iPad, which has been D’s mode of rudimentary communication for several years now.

Not only did Stewart raise 2.2 million dollars for New York Collaborates for Autism in his last episode through a partnership with Omaze, a charity fundraising company that helped organize a meet-and-greet raffle, but he has raised so much more through his annual “Night of Too Many Stars,” an annual telethon to support autism schools, services and programs through the New York Collaborates for Autism. Since it’s inception in 2006, more than 18 million dollars has been raised.

There are two things about this that fill my heart so much – first is that Stewart picked autism as a cause/special need/developmental disability to support. Second, it touches me personally that instead of picking a large, national autism organization to support, he stayed local and picked a New York group who could really disseminate the funds on the ground in real and meaningful ways. I love and appreciate things that various national autism organizations do, but the local chapters and groups are the ones who have been so key in the support, education and help we’ve needed over the years.

New York City was where D (and A) were born. My worries and concerns were born in our New York apartment playing with D and on the playgrounds of Central Park and elsewhere where I would take  him to play. His pre-diagnosis of early intervention happened with our local pediatrician in New York, and the official diagnosis of autism came from the head of behavior developmental pediatrics at Beth Israel Hospital in downtown NYC. His first school was an autism school in the lower west side of Manhattan – an experience that alternately brings me to tears and fills my heart with love in remembering all those who worked to help him those early years.

A year after diagnosis, I traveled an hour out of the city, picking up D from his school, to an autism therapy center three days a week for intense after-school therapy. Those years we lived in New York were ones in which I navigated the autism landscape completely alone — calling, researching, reading, praying, weeping, hoping, laughing and figuring out the best ways to help and support D while keeping us together as a family. The pickings for help were slim back then.

There are many more places to turn to now for help and support, to learn and figure things out. That’s because the rates of autism have continued to increase, and so awareness and action around autism are growing exponentially. Jon Stewart has played a part in that, and for that I thank him.

Also, thanks for the laughs, for saying the things I was thinking, for making me think, and for caring. Jon Stewart is no angel, and certainly not perfect. But he did a lot of it right, and called out a fair amount of bullsh*t along the way.

And so here it is, your moment of zen: