The problem is I'm not sure how much she could improve if she really tried, or how hard it's okay to push her. How much of her behavior is under her control? I don't know. And while I don't want to push her too hard, I don't want her to be less than she could be, either.
I suppose it's not so much that she doesn't seem like part of the family as that she doesn't seem like part of this world. She hardly ever says anything, stays in her room most of the time, and only ever seems to be (at most) half there. I know she's intelligent and talented, but I don't feel like I know *her*.
We usually invite over family friends, people who knew her when she was younger (before she was diagnosed) and they want to see how she's grown. I'd also like to show her off a bit, I guess. I'm proud of her. Do you know she writes her own harp music? But it's like she doesn't want me to be proud of her. She barely notices me half the time, walking around everywhere with a book in her hand and a blank expression on her face. It worries me. She's nineteen years old. She should have at least one friend, right? But she has no one. She talks to no one, goes nowhere.... Surely it doesn't have to be like this?
I don't think you understand autism at all. The way you are trying to push normal behaviour and expectations on her makes me wonder if you have any clue whatsoever about autistic people. It's compareable to you yelling at a blind person for not seeing. She is not your prized curiosity that you show off to your friends either.
You should be more worried about your own behaviour and inability to grasp what you are dealing with.
It's true that I don't understand autism very well, though I've been reading up on it in my spare time... (Spare time? What's that?) It's a difficult subject. Every autistic person is very unique. I want my daughter to be the best she can be, but I'm not sure what that would look like, so I don't know how to help her. Of course she's not a thing I can just show off. But when you're proud of someone, don't you want people to see how amazing they are?
You remind me of my mother. She's very sociable, a people pleaser to be honest. She always pushed me to mix with people who were not very nice to me. Even when I said I didn't want to. She made out that there was something wrong with me. Even thinking about it now really upsets me. For all her love and affection, her need to please others has really affected her relationships with me and my other siblings. It's gotten to the point where I've accepted who she is and I've accepted who I am. I'm naturally a quiet person. I like my own company. That's not a bad thing. In fact her insistence on forcing other people on me has made me even less sociable. Almost like a reaction against her. A reaction to protect my own personality.
Your daughter is 19. She's an adult. She keeps to herself and stays in her room because she feels happy there. She feels safe. Do you want her to be unhappy? Because from the letter she has written you, she clearly is. You can be proud of her without physically showing her off. She plays the harp. That is amazing.
Of course I want her to be happy. That's why I want her to learn to get along with people. After all, her father and I aren't going to be around to take care of her forever. If she truly can't learn to manage by herself, then we need to find somewhere safe where she can live for the rest of her life. But if she can learn, then I want her to! Asking her to smile and say hello to family friends seems like a good first step. I don't mind if she goes to her room after greting them - I just want her to show herself and be polite first. It doesn't seem like such a big deal to me... smile, say hello, leave. They're *friends*, not monsters. All she has to do is say 'excuse me' and go to her room if they're upsetting her. They won't force themselves on her. They know she's autistic. So why does she hate them so much that she'll try to chase them off with a skinning knife? (That was a nightmare. We're still friends, but I doubt they'll be visiting anymore.) I am proud of her, but somehow it seems that people only ever see the worst side of her. I want her to be able to show people what an amazing person she really is, instead of flipping out on them!
Dear Mother--
All of us want some level of organization and predictability in our lives. For example, I expect my computer desktop to look in the morning the same as when I left it the previous night. If during the night someone came in and rearranged all the folders so that I could not find what I was looking for, I would feel upset for sure. If that person then told me that she was only rearranging things to make them better for me because she knew that I, being a disorganized person, would benefit ultimately from learning to be more methodical in my approach to life, I would feel angry--angry for not being seen and appreciated for the way I am, not the way she wants me to be--and angry for having my world upset to bring it into accordance with someone else's ideas of how I should live.
I imagine you are the same about aspects of your life and your space--you want and need a certain level of order and predictability according to your own definitions and desires, not someone else's. Please try to understand your daughter from that point of view. Yes, her autism makes her different in certain ways, but not in this one, which should and must be respected. I have never met a human being who did not desire to have some level of control over her own space.
I do understand that you hope to teach this young woman to be different from the way she is, and that you imagine that changing her approach to life would be for her own good, but go slow please. Force is not the way.
Be well.
p.s. Well done, xXx.
The problems presented by autism are many and varied, and I certainly do not have a solution or quick fix for any of them. I did not say that you should refrain from trying to help your daughter to find ways of being more integrated into the larger cultural surround, but that you should go slow and minimize the amount of pressure and coercion. Although your daughter's emotional needs may seem bizarre and quirky, most of them really are no different in kind from the needs of any of us--just their expression is different, and if this is understood you may find more effective and gentler ways of trying to help her meet them while becoming more integrated socially. I know this is a challenge, but what else can you do?
To answer your specific question: I do think you should have guests in your home whenever you like, but you should not, in my opinion, ever coerce your daughter into interaction with them. It is her right to avoid such contact is that is what she wants or needs.
I sympathize with your situation which certainly is difficult and seems to have no real resolution. I simply suggest that you go slow with any changes of routine while trying to see things through her eyes when possible. If you think I am wrong about this, I suggest getting other opinions from autism experts (which I am not).
Be well.
You put that very well. Thank you... both of you.