Living with Autism: A Parent's Perspective

Ari Ne'eman Says No to "Wandering" designation

Once again an “autistic” adult who fully functions in adult life has weighed in on a situation that, if he is succeeds, would negatively impact the lives of low functioning autistics all over North America.

The CDC has finally in it’s all encompassing intelligence finally decided that a wandering designation should be used to help identify those children with a propensity to wander away from safe surroundings.  This is something that has been necessary for decades and is part of the reason for an organization called Mason Allen Medlam Foundation for Autism Safety and their program called "Mason’s Alert" that I discussed in November This Program which realizes that autistic children wander, and that wandering autistic children head for water, aims to create an alert system that would have police properly direct their attention in the case of a missing autistic individual, instead of following normal search protocols that do not work for autistic children.

The wandering designation makes it more likely that an alert system of this form could be created, by showing a clinical definition that would make this change in searches easier to accomplish. Lack of this designation helps support police’s attempts to stick to a standard definition search.

What really is annoying with those like Ari Ne’eman that work so hard to destroy the work that we do to get programs and systems in place to protect our children is that he is really no different then me. When i was younger (and using today’s standards) it would have been no difficulty for me to be classed as mildly autistic, though i generally don’t suffer any of the issues of this designation today. What this means is that someone who is fully capable of leading a full and productive life is speaking out against programs and designations that are desperately needed for those with the same disorder but many magnitudes worse.

Once again we are going to have to hope and work to make sure that Obama’s chosen autistic representative does not damage the great works that are being accomplished in setting new standards that help protect autistic children from being natural victims to the world around them.

While we still need to have the issue clarified for certainty, rumour is suggesting  that the new CUPE 2745 collective agreement for TA’s forgoes the needs of the child in favour of protecting the seniority of the TA’s

What all parents of special needs children need to do is to verify that the TA who will be assigned to their child is a TA is who trained to suit the needs of the child. The next step if this is not the case is to request that a properly trained TA be made available.

If we as parents of special needs children are ignored in this way then the parents of special needs children need to start to remove their children en mass from the the schools in New Brunswick until such time as the union, the province and the school districts realize that properly trained TA’s are the required norm for this province. If senior TA’s are not properly trained then they should be paid to return to school to get the proper training.

If we as parents pull all the special needs students out of the classroom there will be no more students for the TA’s to assist with. If there is no more students for the TA’s to assist with then there will be no jobs for them.

And no Sandy Harding this deal is not about “You” it is “About the Children” contrary to statements that have been attributed to you during the negotiations

Autistic Black Man Sits waits for a library to open and ends up spending 10 years in Jail 

An Autistic Black Man who went to the library to early and sits on the grass to wait for it to open ends up with someone calling 911 reporting a Black Man with a gun. Because the officer who arrives to talk to him misjudges the situation so badly, The Autistic individual is instead looking at a 10 year jail sentence for assaulting a police officer.

The officer involved does have a 33 year old mentally handicapped child however he still managed to miss the signs of autism so badly that he ended up manhandling the Autistic to the point where the officer ended up injured when the autistic individual responded as any parent of an autistic will tell you is likely to happen in this situation.

I have two problems with this. 1/ The individual had 911 called while he was sitting on the grass reading a book waiting for a library to open. This was nothing more then pure and simple racism. That was continued by the officer who arrived and without properly assessing the situation reacted as if this was the case.

2/ The officer involved even though he had a disabled child of his own, was so out of touch with autism that he misjudged the situation so badly that without evidence of wrong doing, he manhandled an autistic which any autistic parent is going to tell you is going to end only one way. With a physical confrontation.

We need both in Canada and the US (and likely Internationally as well) for all police officers to be trained in the proper methods of dealing with mentally ill individuals (including autism). While we repeatedly here that police officers are not physiologists' and psychiatrists we really need them to become those. This is because the institutions that would house those who are unable to care for themselves (and are to much of a risk to be on their own) are being removed more and more in favour of inclusion and that inclusion is causing way to many mentally ill individuals to be sent to jail because the facilities that they need to function are no longer available to them.

We also need the government to realize that with approx. 1% of newborns being diagnosed with autism at some point in their life and that number growing quickly, we need facilities available to treat and provide therapies to all autistic individuals until such point as they are fully capable of integrating into society to such a point that they are no longer a threat.

What is the most supreme tragedy of this situation is that an illness that is believed to be inflicted by the pharmaceutical companies in conjunction with the government, by forced vaccination programs that not all are certain are safe, is leading to the government throwing them in jail for something that they realistically have no ability to control

We as autistic parents need to stand up and demand accountability from them.