Reflection on the last book I read

I just posted my review of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, but I wanted to share some more of my thoughts. I recently learned that one in 150 children has autism. That is a frighteningly huge number! What if I have a child with autism? How will I deal with it? In the past when I've thought about this possibility, it seemed simple: Well, I'll take him to the best school, I'll find great teachers, and I'll spend all my time with him helping him learn and grow. Most importantly, I'll love him. After reading this book, my perspective hasn't changed on how I'd help my child, but I'm a lot more scared about how it would feel to be his mom. Can you imagine that your child won't be emotionally attached to you? That you are only important in that you are a constant he can rely on? Can you imagine that he won't like you to touch him, not even to hug him or hold his hand? I was more traumatized by the impression I got of this boy's parents. His mother leaves him and his dad because she can't take the stress that his condition causes for her. His father works his hardest to take care of him and give him what he needs, and when the mother leaves, his father makes the mistake of trying to hide the fact from Christopher by saying that his mother died. The one thing that Christopher can't understand/tolerate/forgive is people lying to him. So, when he finds out his father has lied, he can't trust him anymore and tries to run away. Even though his dad did what he thought was best, he has to work really hard to win Christopher's trust back. Christopher can't seem to understand what love means because he doesn't experience that emotion. The only emotion he experiences in the whole book is fear. Anyway, I really feel for parents of autistic children and children with other disabilities, because it seems like it would be the hardest thing in the world to deal with.