I just wanted to say as someone in the autism spectrum thank you so much for Arjuna's mother. I've grown up with people in my own family and work patronizing and sometimes infantilizing me so seeing someone who is not only an adult but also a completely competent mother who successfully raised someone as great as RJ and is still very much autistic ( the covering her ears and sticking to routine when cooking was a nice touch) meant a lot to me.
Aww, thanks, honey! I’m so glad that Chaaya resonated with you at all as, I must confess, I haven’t had any close friends with Asperger’s (as Chaaya does) that I could ask for guidance from, so I had to rely largely on research and articles written by people with the condition. I completely understand what you mean about people assuming that you are less capable because of your disorder, though – my step-grandfather used to verbally abuse my dad, calling him stupid and lazy, because of his ADHD, and my stepbrother was sometimes treated as slow by his teachers thanks to his dyslexia. My stepmother silently struggled with mild schizophrenia for years, yet she was the most academically brilliant woman I’ve ever known. Even in my research I found a few unpleasant articles that tried to claim that one couldn’t be a good parent while having Asperger’s, and it upset me quite a bit, as I’d always imagined Chaaya, Rohan, and Arjuna being a very happy family and Chaaya in particular being a perfect genius in her own right. (Plus I’m sorry, I don’t see how there can’t be more than one way to express love for one’s child.) Fortunately I found several testimonials by parents with Asperger’s debunking that awful preconception, and I was very happy to follow their example.