I'm not sure whether I should be 
or 
but here goes:
As a bit of background I am generally known as the black sheep of my immediate family. They don't talk to me or dh if they can possibly help it and only visit if they want to see ds1 and ds2. We're not usually invited to visit them and it's been made very clear that if I were to just turn up then I wouldn't be particularly welcome. Ds1 has been to my mother's house just once in the past 4 years. Ds2 recently had his first visit there - at the age of 22mths.
With the exception of one of my sisters none of them are interested in knowing more about autism. The general feeling is that it's attention-seeking on my part and an excuse for my failure to teach my sons how to talk, socialise etc. Books go unread and anything on the internet is probably made up(!). 
Me and dh are used to coping alone, although it does irritate me that ds1 and ds2 get left out of family occasions. Unlike their cousin they aren't invited to my mother's house at Christmas. Instead their presents are brought here.
What really made me was a conversation with one of my sisters last week. She doesn't usually talk to me or phone. She's seen ds2 just once since he was born. Anyway my dad died last week so the family were forced to tolerate me at the funeral and wake. When it came up in conversation about ds1 being autistic my sister looked shocked. Apparently it is something that has never been mentioned. However she did know all about ds1 not learning to talk until he was 3 and still being in nappies at 4. Basically they concentrate on the things that ds1 can't do and b*tch about how it's my fault!
The irony of it all is that from the stories my dad's family (who are lovely people) told me about my dad, it sounds as though he definitely had AS/ASD. All of the eccentricities, the obsessions, the literal thinking and complete lack of social skills just screamed "ASD" at me. :) They confessed that they didn't have many photos of him because they found that he was unable to keep still long enough to have his picture taken. He had to keep his feet moving apparently. :o
I got on really well with my dad's family, particularly his brothers. It was like being at a convention for ASD. My own family didn't pick up on this at all and kept commenting on how "eccentric" they all were and "Wasn't it strange how Uncle XXX just sat in the corner and didn't really talk to anyone?" If only they knew! :o
All in all it was a horrible end to a tough year but I have a feeling that if dh, ds1 and ds2 meet my dad's family (dh stayed behind to look after the boys) they will find that they fit right in. :o