I am the mother of a threeyear old daughter with autism, and I guess my story brings up a couple issues.

One is that not enough people are aware of autism in general but my issue is the ignorant people who think that just because someone has autism they are automatically severely disabled, etc.

There was a horse show at the Orangeville fairgrounds this past weekend, a schooling show which most people would just do for fun. I have known about my daughter's autism since she was one and she was diagnosed at two, so I have been doing lots of therapy with her at home and she has progressed and is still progressing very well and is very smart is academically — at a 6- or 7- year-old level, just to give you an idea.

We work on a rewards system, so a reward for her was to enter in her first horse show on Sunday. It was a walk lead line class, and every child gets a participation ribbon. She was so excited for this horse show she helped bathe, braid, prepare everything for the show. I do not exaggerate when I tell you that she would not leave the barn until everything was done.

So the show day was freezing. the class ran late, but she was so excited to be riding with other kids (this is huge if you know autism), and the judge points to us and asks us to come to the middle of the ring. He says, "this is cute and all, but why do you have some one walking beside her." I said because she is three and she has autism (irrelevant), and then he says it so loud, "Oh well, if she has autism or is disabled, then okay," then ignored my child for the rest of the class.

He talked to every other rider in there and said to his assistant, "Oh, never them," and waved his hands at us. My daughter was freezing and just wanted to get in the ring and ride with the other kids, so I did not do anything then, but this is unacceptable.

There were no participation ribbons to boot. I think they were just forgotten but the judge's behaviour just got me thinking whether people in his position should just not be allowed to get away with that.

My daughter should have been treated just like everyone else. I hope you will shed some light on this, and bring some awareness to autism also.

Christina Caputo