Little Miss Different [in editing]

5: Popcorn and Sandwiches

Content note: contains depictions of ableism

After the sponsored races, Katie and Mrs. Himura arrive home. Mr. Himura has been preparing a dinner whilst they were out, which he is now spooning into tiny kiddy bowls for the girls and large, flat bowls for the adults.

Mrs. Himura gets two baby food spoons out of the cutlery drawer and plops them into the girls' bowls of chicken and rice. Katie and Lucie sit down at the kid table with their bowls whilst Mr. and Mrs. Himura sit down at a bigger table.

Lucie types something into her phone. "Is there any more food?"

"Don't be greedy, Lucinda," says Mr. Himura. "Wait until everybody is finished."

Lucie and Katie sit waiting whilst their parents eat slowly, chatting away. "Honestly, Desmond. What kind of parent wants their child's autism? It's such a shame Katherine is afflicted by that terrible burden - it's such a strain on our family!" complains Mrs. Himura.

"Well, honey, I'm going to be starring on a new live debate show about autism next week, and I'll be sure to mention every point you've raised," assures Mr. Himura.

Lucie turns the volume right down on her phone and types out a message for Katie. "Don't worry, autism's not a burden. You're amazing!" Katie smiles at her sister.

"Thanks," she whispers.

"Right, children, who wants more?" says Mrs. Himura tiredly. "It's so unfair, Des, I can't even trust them to get it themselves without messing it all up like usual."

Lucie and Katie pass their bowls to their mum, who fills them up with more chicken and rice. Lucie turns her phone's volume back up. "Mum, why are you so rude about me and Katie to other people?" she types.

"Lucinda, that's no way to speak to a parent," says Mrs. Himura, somewhat surprised that one of her children even spoke to her of their own accord. "I only state facts when speaking about you or Katherine." She says it slowly and patronisingly, annoyingly enough to make Lucie angry.

"No, you don't," types Lucie furiously. "You say things like 'it's unfair', 'afflicted', things like that. It's ableist, Mum! You just don't treat anyone like that!"

Mrs. Himura seems surprised that the child she's always thought was mentally three suddenly acted like her age. Katie, however, is not surprised, as Lucie always acts her age. Mrs. Himura is just too ignorant to notice.

About five years ago

Content note: contains depictions of serious ableism, mentioning the 'teaching to play' ordeal from Chapter 1 and dealing with mentions of 'cures' and references to autism as an 'illness' and a 'burden'. IT IS NEVER YOUR FAULT. If you feel this may trigger you, skip to the bold line 'Present day'.

Katie walked into the Autism Saviour building with her mummy, holding her hand tightly. A worker greeted her mummy politely, then said, "So, what's the problem this time?"

"Katherine's being disobedient and difficult again," complained her mummy. "She never listens. She only ever misbehaves."

Katie looked down at the floor sadly. She didn't like how her mummy shouted at her. Her mummy told her to make eye contact. Her mummy told her off for waving Loppy around. Her mummy didn't let her go on the playdate with Ralph.

"Ah, you poor thing," said the worker, looking down at Katie reproachfully. "Most children with autism are difficult. Thankfully, Autism Saviour is working on a cure for this terrible affliction!" added the worker cheerfully.

A cure. Katie looked up hopefully. If 'curing' Katie meant no more shouting, no more eye contact, no more angry mummy, then surely it was a good thing.

"Mrs. Himura, do you believe that Katie is listening to us?" asked the worker.

"No," replied Mrs. Himura. "I've read your leaflet, it says that children with autism aren't necessarily capable of processing speech or computing things they learn. It's a wonder that school even let her into that building! I'd have thought that the teachers wouldn't want those normal children getting autism too."

Katie's heart fell again. Autism. That word accompanied anything to do with Katie. Katie's mummy treated it like a disease. But even when Katie was sick and Katie's mummy gave her medicine it didn't get rid of this autism Mrs. Himura always moaned about. Maybe it wasn't an illness, and her mummy was wrong. But Mummy said she's always right.

"Yes, it is truly remarkable," replied the worker. "Autism Saviour is working on alerting her school to the danger it's exposing the children there to. Sometimes children with autism go violent and attack their classmates. Of course, they can't help it, it's just part of the condition."

No, it's not, thought Katie angrily. I don't hurt my friends.

"Don't worry, though," continued the worker. "At Katie's young age it's entirely possible to reduce the autism's harmful effects. We can do this through the Autism Watch play we currently do with Katie, which, as you know, consists of teaching Katherine to play by letting her watch the normal children play. We also offer..." Katie slowly zoned out of the worker's chatter about giving her this treatment and trying that treatment and fundraising for this cure and sponsors for that cure.

IT'S NOT MY FAULT.

So Katie ran off.

Present day

Katie screams loudly and makes the whole household jump.

"How dare you scream, Katie?!" shrieks Mrs. Himura in outrage. "Go upstairs AND DON'T COME BACK DOWN!"

Please remember that ableism is never okay. An image will accompany this chapter soon! Also, can somebody please tell whoever thinks there's a cure to back off and rethink their life choices? Thank you.

Also, a collection of Little Miss Different short stories is now up! Read 1: Pen and Paper and let me know what you think! It's based on the 100 Themes Challenge on Deviant Art - https://100themeschallenge.deviantart.com/ - which I didn't even know existed until MissLunaRose told me so, so thanks to her! Please don't hesitate to point out fails or typos in the short story, I published it as soon as I finished it!

I want to thank everyone who's read, voted or commented! Your support and feedback is really inspiring and makes me smile every time I read it. Thank you.