Why Any Run with My Autistic Son Is an Adventure
Running with Diego is about much more than health and fitness
It used to be that the most adrenaline producing aspect of running with my son Diego, who has autism and an intellectual disability, was preventing him from getting run over.
He had no idea how to cross a street or what part of the road to stay on. It took my husband and I years, but he eventually learned to stop before crossing a street and to always run along the edge of the road. He found it both hilarious and terrifying that, if he got hit by a car, he’d end up like the flattened run-over squirrels we often saw on our runs.
Diego never got the crossing the street safely part. Looking both ways while monitoring approaching cars was too much for him. He keeps trying to learn and we keep trying to teach him. But it’s not possible to just see if he can do it independently. It’s one of those high stakes learning goals where you have to achieve 100% mastery. Otherwise, you’ll probably end up dead.
For now, then, we run and cross streets together. Even though safety is no longer a paramount concern for us, any run with Diego, now 26, is still an adventure.
Today’s run started with excitement about getting to the harbor and stopping by my sister’s apartment on…
