For those parents seeking information on autism therapy, autism education, diagnostic and therapeutic tools and the latest autism “cures” – there is an overabundance. For many, however, real stories from other parents presented through a lens not of diagnosis or crisis, but of gratitude and perspective can offer just as many rewards. Such is the pilot project and mission of The Comfortable Chaos Project, an initiative begun by Melissa Ferguson and Brienne Hooker.
Ferguson is the mother of two; one of her daughters, Zoe, is five years old and diagnosed with autism. Zoe began to speak only six months ago.
Ferguson’s life is “highly stressful, unpredictable stinky and sticky,” and she admittedly has at least one breakdown a day. Hers, like many parents with children on the autism spectrum, is a life filled with therapies, run-arounds, insurance forms, judgmental glares and advice -- both solicited and unsolicited – from every corner of her life. Despite all of this, she loves her life and describes it as one characterized by “comfortable chaos.”
And so she has started The Comfortable Chaos Project, an effort to put faces to autism – to show that even though those with autism may see the world differently, they nonetheless have feelings, a need to be loved, and have as much worth and value as any human on the planet. She is in the process of collecting stories and interviews from families around the globe with a family member with autism. She recalls that when she initially received Zoe’s diagnosis, she was missing that “family perspective” and wants to share the everyday life stories – the raw, happy, sad, the untold. Says Ferguson, “I simply want to give hope and inspiration (that I so desperately needed) to families living with autism.”
If you wish to participate in Ferguson’s Comfortable Chaos Project you may so do at:
Melissa Ferguson
Comfortable Chaos Project
P.O. Box 246
DeMotte, IN 45310
(219) 798-6459
Or via email at: comfortablechaos@hotmail.com
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