I was born a triangle. A triangle in a family of circles and squares. There are memories of this dynamic coursing through my familial childhood memories, in preschool, kindergarten, elementary and boldly in middle school. And, oh, gawd, most definitely in high school. By my college years, I'd hit my stride of zagging when everyone else was zigging. My friends were always somewhat the odd balls, the underdogs, the outsiders or they appreciated the one they recognized in me. And so, it is not surprising that I'd choose to come into this triangular life as the mother of a differently abled child, and she, the daughter of a triangular mother.

Diversity….Can you handle it? Can you embrace it? The disAbility journey is one of differences. I see around me those who wince at the lack of their offspring's blending. Anyone who works, at least with the autism population, will tell you that there are certain subgroups of parents who seem to have the greatest struggle accepting their child's diagnosis. Often they are: teachers, psychologists, medical doctors and wealthy individuals. (Education and smarts and all the money in the world can't make this diagnosis totally fade into the background.) Those who've worked so hard to follow the program and do what they needed to do to…not stick out. Oops. You're gonna stick out on this journey.

Some cope with the diversity by insisting on sameness. Fear brews:  We will only have friends that are like us. We are scared of the world outside of us. We must live together, sequestering ourselves in safe shelter. Go to schools and in classrooms of only those like us.

Pssst: Try embracing the diversity. Give others a chance to do the same. Give your children a chance to make their way into the world. The world needs our diversity. And our children need to be in that world.

We can't go back. Us triangles. We're stuck with three sides with pointy ends. Embracing starts not by comparing ourselves and all the ways we are different but celebrating the ways we are AND the gifts we bring to this world by those differences. Let's name a few: a different way of thinking, a different kind of intelligence even. Gifts wrapped up in those differently ordered brains. Bringing with disAbility a chance to serve and for others to make contact with their hearts. (Sometimes this is very, very hard for those who don't like differences in themselves, in their children, in others.) A chance offered not only to be taught but to teach–tarting with the subject at hand–Diversity.

Are you teachable? There's a lifelong curriculum ahead. It's starts with Diversity 101. Maybe by the end of this life I'll be a scholar. You? Go with the flow. Let go of resistance. Promise: accepting What IS is so much easier. This triangle knows.