My autistic son collects bottles to save axolotls, and inspires me to do better by kids like him

This First Person column is written by Jason (Graph) Wyatt, a teacher and father in Edmonton. For more information about CBC's First Person stories, please see the FAQ.

Back when I was a kid, bumper stickers proclaiming things like"my child is an honours student!" were popular among some parents. You may remember these, although my parents never had cause to display one.

What makes my son so remarkable doesn't fit on a bumper sticker. At least, not a typical-sized one.

My son doesn't much care for schooland no wonder. With diagnoses of autism and ADHD, the classroom has presented more obstacles for him than it does for neurotypical students. It'snot totally the Wild West for kids that it was back in the '90s when I was in school, but classrooms are not the most nurturing environment for neurodiverse learners.

As an elementary school teacher, it pains me to say that.

Despite the challenges of the school system, my son is a natural learner. Of course I would say that;I believe all children are natural learners.But truly.

Instead of going along with what teachers want him to learn, he has his own interests and he's not reluctant to express that fact. Vocally. In a parent-teacher interview.

My son cares deeply about animal biodiversity.

That would look weird on a bumper sticker.

This year, for his 12th birthday, he asked us not to give him presents. Instead, he wanted to take the money we would use to buygifts and donate itto protectaxolotls and their habitats.

Again.

He made the same request for his 11th birthday.

This is the second year of his "Bottles for Axolotls" campaign, in which he leverages his birthday to protect an animal species that he loves. We spread the word among friends and on Facebook, and they donate refundable bottles and cans which he sorts in our garage. We take them to the depot and we collect as much as we can through the month of April.

This year, we passed his target and raised $1,080. Last year it was $730 for axolotls.

Even that wasn't the first time he had given up presents for the sake of animals. It was his seventh birthday when he raised over $150 for the Natural Resources Defense Council to protect Florida panther habitats.

When he first suggested the idea last year, I had to do some digging because there weren't any obvious foundations for the preservation of axolotls and their habitats. My first step was tracking down someone who works with axolotls.

Actually, that's not true. My first step was a Google search to see what an axolotl was.

Pronounced ACK-suh-LAH-tuhl, it's like a salamander with these fancy neck frills. I came up blank for charitable organizations but I did find an article in the Smithsonian magazine about Luis Zambrano, a biologist with a PhD in ecology at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.

Axolotls are endemic to Mexico; their habitats are vital because you can't find them anywhere else. They're also at risk for the usual reason us humans. ("The most boring animal" my son calls us.)

I contacted Dr. Zambrano and, with the help of Google Translate, I made arrangements to send our donation. He was, of course, grateful and expressed just how much he appreciates that my son has such an interest in biodiversity.

I would love to take credit for raising William to care about public service and the environment, but the thing I have learned about my son is that he is just who he is. The best I can do is support him and not get in the way.

From the perspective of a parent, I'm still proud although I know I had little to do with his attitudes and interests.

From the perspective of a teacher, my takeaway is that kids are a whole lotta nature and a whole lot less nurture than we'd like to think. They have their own ideas about what they want to learn.

What's remarkable about my son is that he won't hesitate to tell us that he doesn't care about the Fathers of Confederation or basketball or the times tables. Not even science class for that matter because he's already learned what you were going to teach him.

It has me thinking that our role in raising these brilliant young humans is to trust them more, to make space for them to pursue their interests, to support them to achieve goals they themselves set and not to create obstacles that herd them towardsome vague concept of a common education.

Sir Ken Robinson, a British educator who was a proponent of encouraging creativity among children, once said,"Children are not, for the most part, suffering from a psychological condition. They're suffering from childhood."

What that means for a teacher or a parent is that a diagnosis of autism or ADHD doesn't mean our kids need twice the intervention to help them be like neurotypical learners. It means that we ourselves need a little education in how to show up for these kiddos and not get in their way.

And if I had a suitable bumper sticker, it'd take up the whole bumper. And I have a big bumper.

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