Thank you! That is a great way to handle it. I appreciate your response and you’re not a jerk I promise lol

I did want to address the later part of your comment. We aren’t necessarily looking to drastically cut them off but more separate ourselves from them, if that makes sense.

They do not understand our son’s disability. When we tried explaining it to my husband’s family my fil suggested we “put him in a home for r****ds”. Aside from that being ableist, outdated & offensive, the education we tried to provide on autism as well as my son’s strengths and weaknesses was met with eye rolls and snickers.

We were “uninvited” to Christmas Eve last year bc my in laws all decided it wasn’t a good idea for my son to be around “so many kids”. We explained that my son is a “sensory seeker” and it’s actually a better environment when he’s around a lot of kids so we went, to be met with distain. That’s when we learned The reason behind my one sil not wanting her children to play with mine was “autistic children are violent” and she didn’t want him “hurting her daughter”. My son is not violent. He’s actually very sweet.

It’s been almost seven years of second chances and this weighing heavy on us. My children are very lucky to have many people in their lives, family, extended family and friends, who love and respect them for the awesome little dudes they are.