This blog’s “About” page states that I will explain the reasons why I am blogging anonymously. I have three reasons.

First, I am blogging anonymously for Martin’s protection. You may have read my various references to “Track One” treatments, or “Track Two” doctors, and so forth. The mainstream medical community does not accept that recovery from autism is possible. Only doctors on the cutting edge—the DAN! project and beyond—are willing to treat autism biomedically. Adrian and I have decided to exploit both traditional medical care (which I call Track One) and more radical biomedical intervention (which I call Track Two). Martin, therefore, sees not only his excellent Track Two doctor (and his N.D./allergist and his homotoxicologist and his cranio-sacral therapist) but also a battery of mainstream medical professionals at a preeminent New York-area facility, a/k/a the Big Imposing Hospital.

I have grown increasingly dissatisfied with the Track One doctors. I want to be able to state that fact, and the reasons why, without fearing that those professionals could read this blog and recognize Martin. Hearing angry or dissatisfied thoughts from Martin’s mother could cause a Track One doctor, knowingly or subconsciously, to compromise his care. I am not alleging that any Track One doctor is either prone to or even capable of changing a child’s care based on complaints from a parent. Although their approach does not work for us, I have great respect for the professionalism of Martin’s Track One doctors. I simply think it doesn’t pay to take chances. That’s probably the risk-averse lawyer in me.

Second, I’m not yet sure whether the story of Martin’s recovery is mine to tell. Really, it’s his story. If Martin does recover fully, will he want others to know he ever had autism? Is it fair for me to be so public with his struggles? Adrian and I reveal Martin’s autism to our closest friends, and to others who spend significant time with him. But we don’t tell everyone. Far from it. Even some family members don’t know. Adrian’s sisters don’t know. Martin’s condition doesn’t shame or embarrass us. We’re just dealing with it in our own way, which does not include a PA system.

Third—and this is the least of the reasons for anonymity; that I’m even revealing it falls under my promise of honesty—I want everyone to be able to relate to our journey, so that this blog can touch as many caregivers as possible. That includes eliminating what might unnecessarily make us seem different from other families. When I started this blog, Adrian and I discussed what names I should give him and Martin. No name works across every ethnicity, of course. But we felt like “Adrian” and “Martin” crossed about as many lines as one could expect without tending toward clear identification of any particular ethnicity. They are solid, attractive, and in the context of the 21st-century United States, reasonably generic names. (Adrian’s and Martin’s actual first names make it hard to mistake that, as any faithful reader of this blog already may have suspected, we are a Hispanic family.)

So that’s it. I’m blogging anonymously to protect Martin from repercussions; because I don’t know if Martin would want this information revealed about him; and in an effort to make us as much as possible like you, and you, and you and you and you.