Nightmare in Connecticut
by Anne Dachel
The representatives questioning Dr. Palevsky about vaccines should have had more than a little interest what’s causing the decline in the health of children in Connecticut.
Connecticut is the future
Back on February 10, 2014, The Connecticut Mirror published the grim story,
For CT adults with developmental disabilities, housing help unlikely until parents die.
This is piece told the public the plain truth: As long as parents were still alive, there would be no adult services for state residents with autism. Funding had not kept up with the explosion in autism.
The erosion of state funding for people with developmental disabilities has left many parents worried about what will happen to their children when they die or become unable to take care of them.
One 70 year old mother was quoted saying,
“We are told that our loved ones will stay home until we die. They’re welcome to stay home forever. We’re not trying to get rid of our beloved children, adult children included. But there is that fact of mortality.”
Six years ago the parents were already told that there were too many children with autism to automatically offer adult services for everyone who aged out of school. Of course in 2014 the autism rate was one in every 68 children compared to one in 54 children currently. As more children are recognized with autism costs for accommodating their needs also increases.
This brings us to 2020
On August 1, 2020, The CT Journal Record published the stunning story, The system is going to explode’ — Adults with autism struggle to find support in Connecticut.
Despite the fact that for years the main stream media has conditioned us never to worry about the autism rate, here The Journal Record laid it on the line: The increases are real and we’re never going to be able to pay for this disaster.
As autism prevalence rates continue to climb nationally and more students with autism age out of the school system every year, autism advocates and families in Connecticut are becoming increasingly concerned that the state’s adult service systems are largely unprepared to meet the growing need. In 2017, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services estimated 500,000 individuals with autism would transition out of the education system and into adult service systems over the next 10 years.
“The system is going to explode,” said Leslie Macnab, executive director of Wallingford-based nonprofit Autism Services & Resources Connecticut.
“The autism prevalence rate is just going up and up and up, and even if it stays the same (at around 1 in 54 children currently), in 15 to 18 years, those kids are going to be phasing out of the school system …
We already have waitlists, so how are they supposed to take on more capacity without political will, without money, and without resources. I just don’t know. It’s exploding, and it’s very scary.”
The reported stated that there are a1ready 1,600 people on the waiting list for adult services, but …
The current waitlist doesn’t even truly represent the number of people in need, advocates argue.
“I know so many families who say, ‘Well I’m not even bothering to apply for the waitlist, they’re never going to give me services, and I say, ‘No, you gotta put your name on because we have to be able to accurately count for the need,” Macnab said. “Only having (1,600) people on the waitlist is crazy because we all know there’s a hell of a lot more people that are going to need that service.”
This is the elephant in the room that no one is allowed to talk about. The increases are real. Children with autism will continue to flood our schools in ever-increasing numbers at the same time young adults aging out of school will need massive amounts of adult services. Why aren’t legislators asking about these constant increases?
The Journal Record story included quotes from state representatives and health officials all calling for more funding and better services. Still, no one expressed any concern that things might get even worse. If Connecticut can’t afford to care for its current autistic adult population, how much more critical will things be in another five or ten years?
To all those Connecticut parents with young adult children waiting for services it should be noted that there is no place to move to. What’s happening in Connecticut is happening across the U.S. It is truly a national nightmare that’s just getting started.
As we were told, ‘It’s exploding, and it’s very scary.’
Brad Call,
Well said! Your statement that our natural instincts have been blunted reminded me of this paragraph from my 2016 "Vaccines: What Is There to Be 'Pro' About?" presentation:
https://www.ageofautism.com/2016/12/vaccines-what-is-there-to-be-pro-about-laura-hayes-to-weston-a-price-foundation-conference.html
'Today, I would like to begin by reassuring you that you do not need to be a PhD chemist or biologist, or a medical doctor, or some type of genius to understand that what is going on with vaccines is not scientific, is not proven, is not safe, is not working as claimed, is not ethical, and is not wise. All that is truly needed is a basic level of common sense, parental instincts that have not been demeaned, grossly manipulated, and obliterated by doctors and others, and the willingness and ears to hear the truth."
And your statement regarding the media's brick wall of censorship and steady stream of lies reminds me of this segment from my 2018 "Why Is This Legal?" presentation:
https://www.ageofautism.com/2018/11/why-is-this-legal-presentation-on-vaccines-by-laura-hayes.html
"Why is it legal to make false claims about vaccines, when that is not permitted for other products? When companies, advertising agencies, and people make false claims about products and services, including for pharmaceuticals, they are routinely sued and guilty parties are financially penalized. Not so with vaccines.They have a special status reserved only for them. Not only are they liability-free, they are above public scrutiny, and the science on them is declared to be “settled”. Over and over consumers are told that vaccines are nearly 100% safe and effective, and those continually making such claims are not challenged in a court of law, prosecuted, or penalized. To give you an example from my own state, CA, in 2015, Senator Richard Pan, who is also a practicing pediatrician, spoke at UC Berkeley’s Public School of Health. He made the false claims that thimerosal is not in childhood vaccines and that water is the most dangerous substance in vaccines. Neither the Medical Board of CA, nor other legislators, nor the media countered or corrected either of Senator Pan’s false claims, nor were any charges brought against him. This man who tells dangerous lies is the lawmaker who did Pharma’s bidding in CA and led the charge to enact SB277 in CA, mandating that all CA children receive multiple doses of 10 different vaccines in order to attend daycare and in order to gain entrance to any public or private school. During hearings for SB277 in CA, false claims about vaccines were rampant, including: that they are safe, which by definition means that they don’t cause harm; that they are effective, which by definition means that they don’t fail, and that they don’t cause more harm than the infection they are supposed to prevent; that they are needed to protect immune-compromised children, as though it is one child’s job to protect another child, versus the parent’s job; that current vaccination rates above 90% are not high enough, with no mention that the threshold rates continue to be arbitrarily raised due to frequent vaccine failures, and due to increasing resistance and refusal to vaccinate, which is the result of mounting vaccine injury and death tolls; and that vaccines are needed to protect CA children, with no mention of the many risk-free ways to protect CA children. For one last example of false claims, the New York Times recently ran an article which began, “The HPV vaccine, which prevents cervical cancer and other malignancies…” The truth is that HPV vaccines have never been proven to prevent cancer of any kind. Will the NYT be prosecuted for this false claim? No, the NYT’s false claim will go legally unchallenged, and will be largely believed by Americans who still place their trust in the veracity of the fourth estate. Why are those who make false claims about vaccines not being prosecuted and penalized, as with other products, including other medical products?"
Thank you for chiming in with your astute comments here on AoA, Brad!
Posted by: Laura Hayes | August 25, 2020 at 07:25 AM
Mimi kitten and canary guy, I have wasted too much money on ADL/OT/SLP apps over the last 10 years. None of them helped my son. They did not translate to meaningful language or independence. Why would you recommend ignoring the cause of ASD and put more money in the hands of app developers? How are problems solved if no one is allowed to discuss the cause and then remediate?
Posted by: Beleaguered Autism Mom | August 25, 2020 at 01:54 AM
I agree with canary guy. Let’s make fantastic ADL/OT/SLP manga apps to help autistic and other disabled adults beyond 22, teach disabled adults vital life skills they haven’t learned yet, and reduce adults reliance on therapy rooms, group homes and psych meds.
In many manga and video game styles too? Sounds fantastic, for adults that have so many different interests (from nintendo games to marvel to one piece)...
Posted by: Mimi kitten | August 24, 2020 at 09:02 PM
I myself have been a victim of the system as well. I am a canary too.
I’m severely disabled too and I have also special physical/dietary needs. I am a young adult still living with mum and dad, and have been homeschooled all my life due to my intensive special needs.
It’d be great if all the people at AoA and kind donors teamed up to create awesome apps, books and games to help disabled adults and teens care for themselves, eat and cook healthily (especially for special diets like keto), and be able to work and do grown up things by themselves, like paying bills, doing factory and office work, making adult decisions, etc.
We could make all these materials fun, cute, visual and appealing (in art styles like manga, western cartoons, etc) for the younger generation.
My homeschool teacher,mum, thankfully taught me how to do basic life skills, from baking to doing laundry, to shopping with money. Lets help teach those who haven’t mastered those skills, and then teach independent living skills to all those in need, for free or low cost, via various indie apps, books, cartoons and games.
The government has failed us, and we must get together and thrive together.
Posted by: canary guy | August 24, 2020 at 01:23 PM
One in 54 of boys and girls with autism? Sounds like an old number. Four boys to one girl is the ratio. Considering boys only in New Jersey it is about one in TWENTY. In Ireland it is one in FIFTEEN boys. It may get to one in two and I am beginning to think that the population will still be asleep. What does it take to shake people from their slumber? Our natural instincts have been blunted. The media's brick wall of censorship and steady stream of lies has done a number on us. This does not end well.
Posted by: Brad Call | August 24, 2020 at 03:24 AM
You can't just keep funding the Tsunami of ill effects caused by chemicals that get shot into your loved ones such as Alzheimer's causing ALUMINUM, Tumorigenic Aborted Fetal Cells DNA (Cannibalistic?) Peanut oils leading to Anaphylactic shock to nuts and other food proteins (Deaths too) Cancer causing Formaldehyde and more. They simply have more money from pulling these triggers and less empathy than you.
Posted by: Shelley Tzorfas | August 22, 2020 at 03:56 PM