Hi my daughter has only recently been diagnosed with autism at 2 years old, 3 months ago. We did expect the diagnosis however it's a shock in a way and my partner and I are both still emotional about it. I took her out yesterday with her older brother who is 9 and we decided to go for a walk in our local arcade, she was having constant meltdowns as wanted to stand in the middle of the walkway jumping in muddy puddles that weren't there. I of course allowed this for a while but we were in the way of people so I said this way and she had her meltdown screaming "away mummy all done" it looked like she was petrified of me which she isn't I am very patient, kind and gentle with her but I felt like people were looking at me as if I was either not her mum or I was abusing her! She does look different in the way she speaks and acts however she is only 2 and people are always trying to calm her down or help in some way which makes things worse. Then a passer by tutted and grumbled something unpleasant. It was the first negative reaction I've had from people and feel like getting her a tshirt which says I am autistic or having a sign on myself saying this. But also don't want to be labelling her if you know what I mean. Not sure how to deal with this so any advice would be helpful. Thanks.
