There was a blog recently, supposedly written by a physician, about how we should ignore autism (1). We parents of children with debilitating, severe autism know better than to pay attention to such myopic opinions. The danger is that some parents, who face horrifying symptoms in their child, will feel isolated and perhaps slighted by what feels like a blithe dismissal of their child’s condition. The isolation may contribute to tragic outcomes, such as the one in Canada where a severely autistic teenager was murdered by his mother (2). The article reported, “Angie was the sole caregiver for the boy, who had severe autism and was prone to violent outbursts, including punching and head butting at school and at home.” I am sure that was a tremendous understatement. The article went on to say, “The inquest also heard that Angie had often approached the Ministry of Children and Family Development for help, but no support was available.”
“No support was available.”
My point in writing this blog is to underline, again (and as many times as needed), that there is an answer to this desperation, and it is not murder-suicide. You can see in my previous blogs how it is possible for parents to help each other. Though people may not be able to help themselves, economies of scale multiply rapidly when harried parents work together. It is the sort of magic that can make a group more effective than an individual.
If you found your way to this blog because you searched the Internet for the term “severe autism” in a desperate search for some kind of solution to what seems to be an impossible problem, then you are near the answer–a healthy, loving answer, namely, that we can make our own support.
You can contact me via Twitter if you want. We can explore ideas such as Douglas Acres for Severely Autistic Adults, which may save your family (3). (Don’t let the “Adults” part of the name fool you. That was added to segregate more difficult adults from children, who might be accidentally hurt by a physical outburst from an adult with severe autism. Families with severely autistic children are welcome to collaborate in our plans, and seek mutual aid from us.)
- http://qz.com/562043/lets-stop-treating-autism-as-abnormal/
- http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/inquest-begins-into-murder-suicide-of-mother-and-son-with-autism-1.3247714
- http://Douglas-Acres.org
