Jungle

The other day, I brought Calder with me to buy fried rice for dinner. When the girl at the store was taking my orders, I noticed from the corner of my eyes the chef asking Calder what he wanted to order (not knowing Calder's with me). Calder must have ignored him, because what I heard next was the chef muttering "cannot talk". It occurred to me that many autistic children are like Calder, only able to "communicate" with family members and close friends. Outsiders do not understand their utterances nor their ways. So letting  Calder out of the house on his own   is like releasing a pet into the jungle. That is, unless more people understand what autism entails and are patient and kind enough to find out the autistic person's needs or preferences without relying solely on spoken language.