Travel fills my soul

The importance of travel as an Autism family

Jojo, Hammy, and Aidan at Navy Pier in Chicago.

This world is beautiful. For all its flaws and meanness and rough edges, it truly is a beautiful place. And so many of us don’t get to experience even a tiny bit of it beyond where we currently lay our heads. This is due to a number of factors, many of which are beyond our control. But so many of us do not have the privilege to know the beauty of this world as others do and that is truly unfortunate.

For us, like many, cost is a major factor. Employment obligations is another. Hammy is a Warden and it is challenging to get time off for vacations. Or even weekend getaways nowadays. Covid changed the landscape of travel for so many of us. I know I don’t want to be caught up in maskless crowds in cities I do not know. But a major factor in our inability to see this beautiful world of ours is that it is difficult for us to access this beautiful world of ours. Disability is challenging when it comes to travel. Autism makes it especially more challenging because for us, we view it as a social-relational diagnosis, and that is incredibly difficult to navigate in a world that is…well, social.

Jojo, sitting on a bus bench inside of Johnson’s Presidential Library.