'My six-year-old son Lenny has autism. I see it as his superpower.'

My son has the key to heaven. Not in the religious sense, but as far as reaching absolute and all-consuming contentment, he knows the way. You can face some very dark times as the parent of a disabled child, so this month I’m stealing the Autism Awareness spotlight to illuminate the bright side of the spectrum.

Lenny is a mainly non-verbal child with Autism Spectrum Disorder who was diagnosed at the age of three. A serene, chilled-out baby, I couldn’t believe my luck. My gentle bundle was self-soothing and rocking himself to sleep within three months of birth. Never has he yelled from his cot at all hours of the night for "Muummmmeeeeee". His only late-night howls have been genuine causes for attendance - a foot stuck between slats, an overnight upchuck or a tangled sleeping bag.

Ever since he was tiny, he has burst into uncontrollable fits of laughter for no visible reason, as if he knows the joke is on us and our cognisant, mortal coil. While Lenny's condition will present a lifetime of extreme parental challenges for me, it is actually his gift. Now six years of age, his disability has become a superpower that shields him from the world’s inevitable blows. Pure of heart, he is both impervious to malice and incapable of inflicting it.

Watch: Kathy Lette talks about parenting an autistic child. Post continues after video.

Recently I was trying to waste some slow-moving parenting time at a chaotic indoor play space where they serve questionable coffee and chocolate frogs. Lenny was a picture of contentment rolling and 'stimming' *self-stimulating with movement) on a trampoline. He was unfazed by his contemporaries bouncing dangerously close to him. An older snide-looking boy with a crew cut leaned down and yelled into his face "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" My defiant darling didn’t look at him sideways. That miniature punk backed off instantly from the tremendous power of my son's blank. Bam! Lenny’s magical orb of oblivion strikes again!

I could lament the parental rites of passage that are lost to me, but I’m done longing for sentiments that heightened experiences have replaced. While other mums and dads are jolted out of phone-scrolling boredom to ‘watch this’ at the playground, Lenny soars high above the pleas for parental attention. He’ll happily throw himself at the horizon for the better part of an hour in blissful momentum, swing-sharing etiquette be damned. Special needs you see - special swing privileges. My only job is to sit there and watch my child indulge in lengthy durations of sheer elation.

Image: Supplied.

I’m convinced that part of his soul lies in what philosopher Eckhardt Tolle calls the 'transcendent dimension'. He is always wholly present in his being, living in the here and now. He does not dwell on the past and never worries about the future. He babbles in his own tongue and gestures with signature moves. He sees forces and energies we cannot. He does not dwell in a world of taxes, social posts and shopping lists, but dances in a realm of auras, vibrations and sensations.

The autistic brain is a product of overgrowth rather than a lack of development. It fires too fast. Could it, therefore, be that autistic brains are in fact advanced beyond our current level of evolution, tapping into a force that is inaccessible to the neurotypical? It must be a bit true because when Lenny shows me affection, as many autistic children in fact do, we rise to a higher plane.

Every once in a while, Lenny stops. He will come to me and caress my cheeks and place his forehead on mine, peering deep into my soul with intense concentration. As he smooches my face and inhales my essence, there is a transference of energy and love from him so powerful in its purity, the world falls away and our souls ascend. At that moment, only the two of us exist in our untouchable celestial bubble, and as we float up into the stars, my Lenny shines brighter than them all.

Abbey Jane is a Melbourne-based Senior Copywriter and Mum to a boy with Autism Spectrum Disorder. She is also the mother of twins and an advocate of Autism Awareness and Acceptance.

Feature Image: Supplied.