The Social Distancing, Quarantining Mega-Marathon Called AUTISM33
By Kim Rossi
Next month is Autism Awareness month. Quarantine? COVID-19? I've been Autismtined from regular ed and most of regular "life" for more than 23 years, how about you? CDC in the USA and WHO globally have utterly failed citizens from California to Calcutta. Loss of income these days? Most of us dropped to one income earner in the family. Some literally - as in divorce. The corporate ladder for us is a Little Tykes slide, climb, climb, slide back down to the bottom, try again.
Our expenses are through the roof, not covered, not covered, not covered. Out of pocket. Out of pocket. Out of pocket.
We search for Barney videocassettes from 1997 because our adult kids can hit play and rewind on the Sony Trinitron TV with the built in VCR that we troll eBay for monthly so as to have a spare in the basement.
We drive 3 row seat vehicles so that our kids can be socially distanced while we drive. We've been punched in the back of the head enough times to have learned that a small car is a recipe for disaster.
We lose our breath every time our child bolts, wanders, is out of our sight even in our own homes. Water crashes through the ceiling as a toilet overflows. Bedding strewn all over the room as a rage unfolds. Our respirator? A blessed night's rest, for those who get that gift. An hour of respite for a cup of coffee. A camp for a week.
We keep that minivan long after our babies grow up because we can't afford to repair the car door of every single car we park next to when we bring out our kids. Bang! Bang! Ding! Ding! Scribble another note to leave on the windshield, "So sorry.. my son..." That sliding door is also impossible to open at 70 miles per hour on the highway. That's how we take care of our heart rate.
We don't bother to repaint this room or that hallway because there is no Kevlar enforced paint that can withstand the punches and head bangs. The drywall has been approved for a Purple Heart.
Worry about an invisible virus? We worry about our adult children with their invisible disability like Asperger's every time they leave our sight. Will they hit a social wall, lose friends, get in trouble with the police, keep a job, maintain their mental health amid their challenges.
COVID19, meet AUTISM33.
Born right here in the United States of America. Almost 90 years ago. And we're still quarantined.
Kim Rossi is Managing Editor for Age of Autism.
Gayle,
I agree, both are terrible. I hope your family makes it through this tragic time in New York all right.
Posted by: Cia | March 27, 2020 at 03:59 PM
Kim, PS - It is NOT an impossible dream to stop the vaccine madness; thanks to Age of Autism
Posted by: david m burd | March 26, 2020 at 08:24 PM
Kim, You somehow "bear the unbearable, yet you always reach for that unreachable star"** to inform everyone the causes and needs of your's and all other vaccine-damaged children.
** Song from the Broadway hit Man From LaMancha "To dream the impossible dream"
Thanks for everything Kim
Posted by: david m burd | March 26, 2020 at 07:56 PM
Well said, Kim! Thank you for letting us know we're not all alone out here, even though we're, well, all alone out here! ;)
Posted by: Donna L. | March 26, 2020 at 06:15 PM
Thanks, Kim. Ditto, ditto and ditto except the Asperger stuff. How many times have I been hit in the head while driving? Too many to count. I’ve spent much of the past 26 years social distancing. The past few have been better, I’ve gotten out. After all this time home will Colleen transition back to her day program and her sitter at home?
Posted by: Lori Stella | March 26, 2020 at 02:29 PM
Brava, Kim. Well said. And needs to keep being said.
Posted by: Laura Hayes | March 26, 2020 at 12:19 PM
Kim-We are also used to living in social isolation as many times our adult son with autism does not want to go out so we all just stay home and try to make the best of it. We also have had too fix walls from his head banging meltdowns, plunge overflowing toilets, and pick up things he has thrown all over the floor. I had to stop working when he was diagnosed many years ago so we had to live on one salary for many years. My husband is retired now and we have to worry about our 401K losing money with the crazy ups and downs of the stock market due to the corona virus. We live in New York which now has the highest rate of cases in the country and the numbers are in the thousands and go up every time they test more people. Everything is on lock down excepts for supermarkets and pharmacies and essential services. The hospitals here are running out of beds, ventilators and other supplies needed to care for those affected by the virus. Doctors and nurses are now also getting sick from caring for their sick patients and many have tested positive and have had to stop working and stay home. Living through a pandemic like this with children with autism is an unimaginable hardship on all of us. God help us get through these terrible times.
Posted by: Gayle | March 26, 2020 at 11:54 AM
Kim, I love this because it's our truth. We've been living with social distancing for decades now. Welcome to our world, people! One income?? Too bad, so sad, get over it. No one believes your child was injured by a medical procedure! #EverydayAmericansWantTesting for Covid vaccine... like a double blind placebo... HAHAHA! #MerkaDontDoThat
#WelcomeToHolland
Posted by: Diane | March 26, 2020 at 10:54 AM
Thanks for writing this Kim. Many of the things you mentioned really hit home. At least we are not alone.
Posted by: 4Bobby | March 26, 2020 at 10:11 AM
Go Trump. Whilst I agree with everything you say, I would just add that whilst the Powers That Be appear to be controlling everything at the moment, the one thing they cannot control is whether or not the virus will mutate. They can say it isn't, but if it does there is nothing in the world all their money can do about it.
Posted by: susan welch | March 26, 2020 at 09:05 AM
Well said, Kim!
Posted by: susan welch | March 26, 2020 at 09:00 AM
@ Go Trump
I couldn't agree more with your observations on media and political response to CV19 pandemic raging all over the world … how difficult it is to know what is or what is not true about CV19.
I also agree with your PREDICTION of their "end goal" which is to "mandate CV19 vaccine for everyone and with that, mandate the rest of the adult CDC schedule'.
Real CONVENINENT this PANDEMIC arrived at exactly the same time thousands all over US and the world are demonstrating in the streets protesting various VACCINE MANDATES .. as evidenced by WHO "confidence-compliance' supervisor .. who recently was forced to admit opposition to vaccines is GROWING .. especially among "front line" personnel who administer vaccines professionally. Amazingly .. the CV19 arrived just in time to REMIND the world how DANGEROUS DISEASES ARE … and the ONLY THING THAT WILL SAVE THE WORLD WILL BE A VACCINE!!!!
Just in the nick of time to shut up those thousands of people demonstrating all over the world
Posted by: Bob Moffit | March 26, 2020 at 08:55 AM
Kim,
Thank you for saying all this.
John
Posted by: John Stone | March 26, 2020 at 07:58 AM
As always, it a bit difficult to know what is or what is not true about Covid-19. The two trillion dollars just spent on the issue amounts to about $6,000 per American. For most, one might someday get a free nose swab or a free mandated vaccine.
How big a lie would they tell to get that kind of money? The United States is basically now a corporation, those in DC have little control over legislation and they do as they are told, or they will have a very well funded individual running against them in a primary. The American newscasts have become little more than an endless medical show with drug commercials.
They are already saying that Covid-19 has not mutated very much, so it looks like the vaccines they are working on will work. The end goal of course is to mandate the CV 19 vaccine for everyone, and with that, mandate the rest of the adult CDC schedule. The vaccine billionaires will become vaccine trillionaires, which means the game is about over except for those who can escape to somewhere.
Posted by: go Trump | March 26, 2020 at 06:43 AM