Looking at College & Growing Up for my Aspie

      Our meeting with the career counselor went very smoothly.
I hate to brag but this was one of the few times I didn't cringe when he spoke for the first time in a interview setting. He didn't make the awkward gestures, and tried to keep eye contact and didn't animate his voice.
      I asked the counselor whether I should tell the college regarding his disorder. Her reply was simple. It was up to him because it was a medical issue and it was his right to tell or not tell. There wasn't anything she else she could offer. It was a familiar advice. So we moved on and finished what was on our agenda. We covered all the classes he was going to take next year, what he needed to do during the summer and schedules to take the SAT and senior year.
      But that question of whether telling the school about his disorder was constant in my mind. Does it help or hurt his chances especially when there is so much competition?
It never occurred to me to ask because I was so used to making all the decisions.  Maybe it was a cop out, but I told him it was really up to him as I gave him my okay to tell his friends about his disorder. 
      Then I asked, "Do you think it helps or hurts your chances of getting into the college you want?"     
      His response was immediate.
     "I think it helps. I want to tell them because it is who I am. I want them to know all the difficulties I had and the things I had to work on."
     He made perfect sense. I should have asked him for his opinion from the beginning.

     Decision has been made and he wants to write about it when time comes for the essays. I was filled with pride and sadness. I was proud he was making his choice and sad because he was no longer that boy in the blue's clues costume.