Thank you for this response article.
As a parent of not one, but two Autistic children I regularly have to fight with our school district to get our children the assistance they need to succeed.
What I think alot of the commenters here don’t realize is just HOW MUCH MORE help a child with even mild to moderate autism spectrum disorder needs JUST to be EVEN with the “normal” children. We are talking Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Speech Therapy, Behavioral Therapy, Psychological Therapy and in-class assistance.
It is a HUGE HUGE HUGE expenditure to support JUST ONE Autistic child, much less a whole district of them. The Federal Government supplies a tiny fraction of the money required, the rest must come from State and Local resources, or the Parent’s own pockets.
And don’t forget how devastating it is for a parent to find out that their child has Autism. It is a massive strain on a family, with negative effects on the marriage relationship. 80% of marriages that produce Autistic children end in divorce within 10 years of an Autism diagnosis.
Parents of Autistic children also find themselves discriminated against in the workplace. Why? Because their kids take so much more time than regular kids. My own wife has already been discriminated against for taking vacation time “too often”, even though she is owed it by her employer. (The local Library, a govt. run institution no less.) Parents of Autistic kids get passed up for promotions because they don’t stay late like other people.
Autistic kids have poor sleeping habits, and often wake up at all hours of the night, waking up everyone else in the house along with them. Parents of autistic kids are almost always constantly exhausted, and this effects their work performance.
In some cases there is direct discrimination from Antique bosses that think if these employee’s kids have autism there must be something wrong with the parents. Thus, parents of Autistic children are often less successful and less able to afford needed services that the govt. does not provide.
Autism isn’t something that you “occasionally” have to deal with when you are the parent of an Autistic child. It is constant, unrelenting, unending. You don’t EVER get a break. All your vacation time is spent taking care of the kids when they aren’t in a school program, you spend ALL your disposable income (Yeah, forget retirement, the kids need Speech Therapy). You spend ALL your free time taking care of them.
And then on top of all that, we have to FIGHT with the local school admins JUST to get our child the services they need. So please, don’t tell me about waste when you are talking about Autistic kids. It’s presumptuous, rude, and completely ignorant.
God Bless Wacky Hermit for sticking it out with her Aspie kids. I know what you are going through sister. You have been given a special charge by God, Keep the faith.
Oh, and guys like Smarty and Steve D? If you EVER say something like your comments here to MY face, don’t expect to be conscious for long, eating solid foods for the next 6 months, or walking or using your arms and hands any time soon afterward. Jerks.
