Dan, listen to what John says, 6 minutes or so in....where he himself talks about 'the gifts' he has...how it led him to work with Pink Floyd...how he 'sees' into music, into electronics.

I fully appreciate the heartbreaking stories and the suffering that so many people endure each and every day. But there is another side as well.

Kimmy was terrified of her son when he would fly into a rage, many years ago, but today, that young lad is in control. Yes, he may well have a situation in the future that gets out of hand, but heck, doesn't that happen to all of us at some point in our lives?

People without autism also do terrible things, and more often than not, they do them quite deliberately. But those on the autism circle very rarely do them with the intention of causing harm...It's a momentary explosion, for whatever reason that may have caused it.

We cannot rid this world of terrible happenings, no matter what they may be.

Kimmy today would be lost without her Ben, he's moved on, with a great deal of help and support from his special school and is now looking forward to his life...but it was so damned hard in the beginning, so very hard for them...

I have no idea how Ben's life will turn out. He was severly beaten up recently, just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time...cigarette burns, punches, kicks...the non autistic ones were after his mobile phone...

My children had violence shown towards them by non autistic kids. Hannah, sweet gently autistic Hannah was hit in the face by non autistic kids...

I hear what you're saying, I really do...and I know too, first hand, how terrible autism can be, but there is always hope...always.

Ben is not a curse today. Neither are the many people who are able to find a way through it all, and there have been so many in the links I've provided.

What is at the root of most of the suffering is the lack of knowledge, understanding and money. Everyone should know about autism...every single person. Teach young children about it at school. Go into the work place. Saturate the planet with information about it, but get the message out! And then these terrible cases may not happen, because everyone with an autistic child has help, empathy and compassion surrounding them...