Comfortable Halloween – AGE OF AUTISM
Cathy is off today. 21 years ago I dressed Bella up as football while Mia and Gianna were cheerleaders at Boston College (my alma mater). Mia and Gianna had been diagnosed with PDD a year earlier. Do you remember the early days of diagnosis – before the internet was ubiquitous? I definitely do. Lonely. Terrifying. Dark. More trick than treat. I’m not sure, despite our best efforts, much has changed for families facing a diagnosis. There is no real timetable yet. Services are location and staff luck. There is no holy Jew. No make a wish. Not for us. A lot of us found Yahoo groups like Tough Nuts and Old Timers and BioMedHeads, my old group. We knew ARI had answers and went to conferences. Despite the internet, I have the feeling that we are more isolated than ever. Social media cannot replace Facetime, not even through … Facetime.
Even so, we must continue to help families because I fear that we will soon see an onslaught of something very dark for children. It may not be autism per se. But that is how bad comes along.
Not the happiest Sunday mail, but a reminder of why Age of Autism is still around. Why TACA and NAA are still here. We are needed. We don’t leave others behind. Kim
