“My life would be empty without my son”—Emma Noble
No autism in the family and no MMR vaccine given,
notes Emma Noble in the October 22nd Telegraph about her seven-year-old son, Harry, who has autism. Harry’s grandfather is Sir John Major, the former British Prime Minister. While noting that life raising an autistic child is not easy—-Noble notes that Harry has sometimes been awake for 22 hours and also been a “‘hostage to his rituals’”—she “would not want him any other way.” Says Noble:
“My life would be empty without my son and the experience we have been through together….
“He makes it easy for me to accept because he makes me proud every day, proud of his achievements and of how hard he tries.
“There is no part of me that mourns the mother I could have been to a son without his condition. I simply don’t know that person.”
Thanks to Noble for her straightforward and powerful words. I’ve written it before: It’s thanks to Charlie that I am who I am. Life without him is just too good to wish for anything otherwise.
16 opinions for “My life would be empty without my son”—Emma Noble
Cliff
Oct 22, 2007 at 5:01 am
Note in the article, however, that it takes flat contradiction for them to even say that she accepts autism.
It still insists on “something was wrong” right after her use of condition.
Ah, how familiar.
On the other hand, it uses her word “condition” later, a word I highly approve of in terms of use.
Cliff
Oct 22, 2007 at 5:05 am
Let me clarify that statement. I’m not saying that not feeding yourself was a good thing, but there’s the implication that, in fact, “something was wrong”. It’s not technically wrong, but it’s callous for the message. “thought something was wrong” would be kinder to her message.
Cliff
Cliff
Oct 22, 2007 at 5:07 am
And a third typo. Batting zero for zero.
Nothing was wrong, but nothing wrong in “suspecting something was wrong”, because she did.
Sorry, Kristina, for taking up space. Clearly not focusing right.
Cliff
Tim
Oct 22, 2007 at 10:59 am
Hi Kristina, We are trying to get settled here in Denver so not commenting much… but still reading AutismVox practically every day. Again thanks for putting all this information together and adding your perspective.
Reread your last sentence carefully — Just a typo, but a very important one that I know you would want to correct.
Cliff
Oct 22, 2007 at 3:25 pm
I looked through many of the other articles, and it turns out that (contentiously or not on your part, I have no idea) the article posted was significantly kinder to her message. The Daily Mail’s headline was “Emma Noble: My son is autistic but I still feel so blessed”.
Cliff
Joseph Mele
Oct 23, 2007 at 10:22 am
Hi
When people say “there is no autism in my family”. You really have to take that with a grain of salt. It could very well just translate to no kanner autism.
Leanne
Oct 23, 2007 at 10:36 am
I’m often surprised how little most people know about their extended family. Patrick has epilepsy and I always answered no when asked about family history. Came to find out a year later that my grandmother had a brother with epilepsy.
Kristina Chew, PhD
Oct 23, 2007 at 11:17 am
Thanks for that point Joe—-I’m not sure any of us can accurately say “there is no autism in my family” any more.
Bink
Oct 23, 2007 at 12:15 pm
On that note — on one of her visits this past year my mother-in-law suddenly said that she wondered what ever happened to a cousin of hers. All she could remember was that this cousin, a little girl, could not talk at age six and was kind of odd. I just stared at her, unable to think of what to say. It’s been more than four years since my own daughter was diagnosed with autism, and no one thought to mention this until now???
(I wonder what happened to that cousin, too. I hope her life was/is a happy one, wherever she is. Sigh.)
Regan
Oct 23, 2007 at 12:25 pm
That expanded version of the story on Emma Noble and Harry from the Daily Mail, which makes a few points more clear:
http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/pages/live/femail/article.html?in_article_id=488760&in_page_id=1879
This Week’s Top Posts
Oct 28, 2007 at 5:09 pm
[…] “My life would be empty without my son”—Emma NobleWhile noting that life raising an autistic child is not easy—-Noble notes that her son Harry has sometimes been awake for 22 hours and also been a “‘hostage to his rituals’”—she “would not want him any other way.” […]
jan greenman
Nov 12, 2007 at 4:01 pm
I have written a book about my son Luke who has ADHD and Aspergers Syndrome and it too was featured in the Daily Mail. However, unlike Emma’s story, which was written from a loving perspective, the article about my book, written under my credit by a journalist, was entitled ‘My son the Monster’. When I asked the Daily Mail why they had chosen that persepctive they said that unfortunately Love doesn’t sell newspapers, monsters do.
My son Luke met Emma Noble in London a couple of weeks ago and she bought a copy of my book from Luke and introduced him to her agent, he is such a fantastic character.
My book is avilable from my website and is selling around the world. Jan Greenman
Kristina Chew, PhD
Nov 12, 2007 at 6:23 pm
Thanks, Ms. Greenman—I read that article aout your son and really wondered at the wording. Was it the same reporter who wrote both articles?
Cliff
Nov 12, 2007 at 6:35 pm
I understand what you mean, Ms. Greenman, having been typecast similarly (though I wasn’t called a monster, “poor soul” came across well, which didn’t do any favors for me).
The original article about Emma I think was pretty harsh on her son. It was startling, because you could tell they were reaching for a negative spin. I think I posted the title above, which is comes off like “Despite my son’s glaring deficits, I’m still giving him a chance”, which was not what Emma said at all.
It’s sad, really.
Cliff
jan greenman
Nov 21, 2007 at 6:15 am
Quentin Letts of the Daily Mail writes ‘Congratulations, you have pulled off the trick of writing about a difficult subject in a way that is affecting and funny, informative and vivid. You frequently had me near tears…’
Nigel Mansell OBE has written ‘This book demonstrates how brave parents are and is a truly riveting read’. Eddy Shah calls my book ‘remarkable’. I naively thought that the Mail article would reflect the whole truth of our life with Luke, as my book does, ranging from the awful to the wonderful and everything in between. He is a fantastic character, a brilliant mimic and you can’t begin to imagine how much energy he contributes to every day.
The challenge is: to successfully sell a book without any sensational publicity and I’ve been told by people in the industry that it’s impossible but I’m not going to give up! Luke deserves a voice and he works harder than hard every single day, just to fit in. Everyone who has read my book says that they ‘can’t put it down’ and that is because the central character is a brilliant boy who comes with labels attached and who is brave enough to be identified, lables and all.
Jan Greenman
Kristina Chew, PhD
Nov 21, 2007 at 1:29 pm
I’m sitting here working on my own book…….think you’ve hit the nail on the head about trying to sell a book without sensationalization. Keep at it—-pulling for you here and writing too.
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