Dear You

Dear You,
Yes. You. The gentleman across the street from our house. The one who yelled at my autistic child today. Let's have a conversation, you and I, shall we?
How dare you yell at him? First of all, he's not your child, and there were adults RIGHT THERE. Obviously, if his aunt and I were not yelling at him, he was fine. Second of all, all he was doing was screeching. He wasn't crying, he wasn't in pain, he wasn't ill-he was screeching with joy, because that is how my little boy expresses his excitement and happiness.
Why, you ask?
Because he is autistic. Yes, he can speak. Most of his speech consists of movie and book quotes, or overheard conversations. The little he can speak of his own volition does not cover his emotions-he doesn't understand them. So, he screeches. And he flaps his hands and spins in circles.
Now, let me ask YOU something. Why did you only yell at my child? His cousins were out there, too. They were all just as loud. Why did you only yell at mine? Because he was doing something none of the others were doing? Because you can just tell there's something different about him? Or is it just because he was the smallest, the one least likely to retaliate? Either way, that's despicable.
Do you have any idea how much work has gone into getting him to play "with" the other kids? And he still doesn't truly play with them. He chases after them, and he stands by them and stares at them. He can interact with one child at a time. But the group of all 7 of them? No, he can't do that. So yes, he was standing off to the side, screeching with joy and flapping his hands. And now, because you yelled at him, he thinks he's naughty.
Thank you for upsetting the fragile self-confidence of a disabled child. It is people like you who make life so much more difficult for people like my son. It is people like you who cause the heart ache in my baby's eyes, and therefore endless hours of stress, worry, and meltdowns in my home, and the homes of other families like ours.
I hope you're proud of yourself.
Sincerely,
That little boy's mother