In Memoriam National Council on Severe Autism's Feda Almaliti and Son Muhammed
Below is a story that brings our mission into sharp focus. Autism advocate, friend, mother - Feda Almaliti and her 15 year old son Muhammed died in a house fire. Our biggest worry is for the well being and safety of our beloved children during our time together and after our death. Feda went back into the burning house to save her son. She carried him for nine months. Carried him through autism for 15 years. But she could not carry him out of the house - and so she perished with her son in her arms. She had just turned 43 years old. Please take a moment to think of her bravery and selfless love for her son. Just look at that 1000 watt smile.
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From the National Council on Severe Autism:
Yesterday was a day that rocked the autism community. Feda Almaliti, one of the founders of the National Council on Severe Autism and who was recognized nationally for her outspoken and often brash and hilarious advocacy for individuals and families impacted by autism, perished in an accidental house fire with her beloved son Muhammed. Feda was able to run out of the house along with her sister and niece but then went back in to bring out Mu. She could not carry him but kept fighting till she lost her breath due to heavy smoke. When the fire officials found the bodies, Feda was holding Muhammed.
Our hearts are broken.
Feda had just turned 43 five days before the fire, and she was at a turning point, filled with a buoyant energy about her future. She talked of many plans — dating, going back to school, helping to chair new autism programs and conferences, and even writing (well, dictating, as she admitted) a book called, of course, #AutisticAF.
Thousands of people had seen Feda tell her family’s story on various stages, millions had heard her despair in an NPR interview, a rapidly growing audience was tuning into her new podcast, The Scoop, and many thousands in the Bay Area had benefited from the events she helped organize, including autism family pool parties (inspired by her own frustration of having nowhere to take Mu to swim), huge Autism Society San Francisco Bay Area conferences on adult autism, webinars, and parent support gatherings among them. With The Scoop and other efforts she was buzzing with excitement about opportunities to discuss with honesty and compassion the hardest issues facing autism families. She was irrepressible, lord help anyone who got in her way. Read more here.
From local SF Bay area news:
A house fire early Saturday morning in the Sundale neighborhood of Fremont has claimed the lives of a nationally-respected autism support advocate and her teenage son.
Family members have confirmed the deaths of 43-year-old Feda Almaliti and her 15-year-old son, Muhammed, in a one-alarm fire in their home in the 39000 block of Serra Place in Fremont. Firefighters arrived at 1:45 a.m. to find the residence, in the 39000 block of Serra Place, fully engulfed in flames.
Four people were home at the time, according to Fremont fire officials. The other occupants were uninjured.
Almaliti was vice president of the National Council on Severe Autism. She was also a commissioner on the city of Fremont’s Human Relations Commission.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
https://sfbayca.com/2020/09/27/national-autism-support-advocate-15-year-old-son-die-in-fremont-house-fire/
This is all so very sad, not just the terrible fate of these two, mother and son, but the struggles that we all have. I'm glad to see another discussion of different attitudes to the autism problem. I hope everyone here by now knows that I am an active believer in the existence of the Vaccine Holocaust, and all the death, disease and suffering it has caused. I would just like to put in a word for all of us adult "auties and aspies". We don't wish to offend or hurt people, but we are sometimes literally incapable of knowing we're doing just that! We do feel empathy and compassion, and it sometimes makes us say something inappropriate. I can assure you that almost all of us live alone, have no-one to look out for us, and are daily attacked by the authorities and others. (If you think "attacked" is too strong a word what do you think sending diseased people into old people's homes was, but a biological attack which proved fatal for thousands?) So, please, if you feel a bit crotchety towards one of us, take a moment, and give us the allowance that you daily give to your own non-verbal children. Thanks, Grace.
Posted by: Grace Green | September 30, 2020 at 06:39 AM
Will my son has set fire to the house 3 times.The most innocent time was when he gathered for days scraps of papers in the middle of his bedroom reaching approx 3 feet high and nobody was allowed to touch it .We thought nothing of it.Then he spent another eight days drawing this picture of himself with this birthday cake and 9 candles on it as that was his age at that time.One morning around 10 am the fire alarm went off followed by my wife screaming hes set fire to the house.I ran through to his bedroom seeing the flames and smoke passed it and went straight to the bathroom where I soaked a towel and grabbed a bucket which my wife had been soaking nappies in and threw the bucket over it and then the towel .Before this my son had been leaping through the flames to the sound of manic giggling.At the bottom of the fire was the picture of his birthday cake and all the candles were burnt as it was missing .He had tried to hold his own birthday celebration 3 days in advance thats all totally innocent.Our fault for leaving a cooker flame starter in the kitchen whilst we waited for the cooker electric ignitor to be repaired.I can assure you there is nothing left to chance with my son as he will catch anyone out if they dont give him the respect he requires as he is a danger to himself and others and it isnt out off mallice or hate or any other madness.His ideas come from mainly slap stick childrens cartoons or tots TV which we had to breath a sigh of relief when he started watching Star Trek.
Theres a lot more going on with the posters on here than meets the eye and I for one try not to talk about my son as were all on the same autism boat and share similar stories.Any one of us could fill a library concerning our loved autism children/adults.I prefer to channel my energy at what caused it all Pharma and vaccines all for cash and Ill health Will nothing else.
Pharma For Prison
MMR RIP
Posted by: Angus Files | September 29, 2020 at 01:53 PM
Oops -•how about thinning these people should say how about thanking these people
Posted by: Carolyn Barolyn | September 29, 2020 at 12:17 PM
I don’t know if my other comment got through. But I can boil it down to this:
Who went into the fire to save you Will?
Someone did or you would be unable to comment here.
Posted by: Elsie Ticked | September 29, 2020 at 10:13 AM
Remember that the critical jerks come out when we hit a chord.
This story is a tragic, literal example of the sacrifice made by families in their attempts to save their children.
And it hits so close to Will, and challenges his cruel assumptions so perfectly, that he had to throw out criticisms designed to blame the victims and protect him from compassion.
Feda and Mu were beautiful souls who moved forward and made the best of a difficult injury. I don’t know by the way what Feda believed about autism’s cause for her family. I don’t care. We are all in it together: We are parents and siblings suffering with the 28 hour day similar to what is Described for caregivers of Alzheimer’s patients. Even those with higher functioning children don’t get to relax much. But we are in solidarity with each other and we sometimes agree to disagree about the cause. And Will if you are on the spectrum how about if you ask your family what sacrifices they made for you? When they ran into the fire for you, when you balked and wouldn’t come out and get gave up life experiences or vacations or opportunities for you? I think MU had the love to appreciate his mother running back to him in the fire. Who has run back for you in the fire of your Asperger disabilities ? Instead of attacking us Will, how about thinning those people? How about running back into the fire for your brothers and sisters who didn’t recover like you did? How about you stop causing more hurt wirh your comments and start to think about the love you have been shown? Think about it Will. Think about how much better it would be to love others rather than attack. I say this wirh love for you despite your cruel comments. Think about this Will. You can be kind. Start now.
Posted by: Carolyn Barolyn | September 29, 2020 at 10:06 AM
I am sorry, Will. I try so hard not to be offended by your remarks. However, your comment 'Most here are too busy with the dubious vaccine controversy.......'
Please can you tell me, very clearly, how you would like us to conduct our lives and spend our time? Whatever any of us do or say it is always wrong. Why do you even read this web site?
I know I should be more patient, but patience is in short supply these days, so I apologise.
Posted by: susan welch | September 28, 2020 at 07:55 PM
Will, sometimes you make the strangest assumptions about the lives of people here :)
Many of the people here have relatives, mostly their children, with severe autism, where safety is always an issue.
You know all those articles about people with severe, non verbal autism wandering, or drowning? If someone is looking after a person with no sense of personal safety in their home, the only way they stay safe, the only way they keep living, is constant non stop attention by their caregiver, to safety, year after year after year.
I am going to make a leap of my own here, and guess that you personally have never spent days or weeks being the sole caregiver to someone who whether from severe autism, elderly dementia, or even extreme youth, such as toddlers, have no sense of personal safety. If you had, you would know that you spend your whole life figuring out how to keep them safe. And for me, and for many others, vaccine safety discussions are a way to also do our best to get others the information we wish we had known.
We already know that there has been one case of transverse myelitis in one of the COVID vaccine trials, and another case of transverse myelitis leading to new onset MS, ( purely coincidental, per the study authors). If the media decides to stop discussing COVID vaccine side effects, as they have done with many other vaccines, do you think that will lead to increased safety, or to the reverse?
On the bright side, though , it is nice to see you posting again. You seem to have taken a break, and I was hoping that all was well with you.
Posted by: Hera | September 28, 2020 at 03:57 PM
"What about the readers of "Age of Autism". Most here are too busy with the dubious vaccine controversy and think little about safety training and accident prevention in relation to those with disabilities especially autism."
@Will
Please take your shade somewhere else.
Posted by: Emmaphiladelphia | September 28, 2020 at 03:18 PM
It is sad that the Regional Centers of California are not concerned about the safety of those with autism. Most fires could be prevented and there are tools like fire-hoods and escape laters that deduce the risk of death and serious injury from a fire as well as general safety training for parents and clients alike of the Regional Centers. The Regional Centers are too busy with mass de-institutionalization and the futile attempts at supported employment. In relation to those either too disabled to be employed or are the fact of extreme ableism that would cause the Regional Center client to become fired from a job anyway. What about the readers of "Age of Autism". Most here are too busy with the dubious vaccine controversy and think little about safety training and accident prevention in relation to those with disabilities especially autism.
Posted by: Will | September 28, 2020 at 02:29 PM
Such a sad story that underlines that severe autism is something you try to save your child from, that you celebrate the CHILD not the autism, because the autism is a life-threatening life-stealing disability, something that happens TO our child, not who our children are.
Posted by: Carolyn Barolyn | September 28, 2020 at 12:56 PM
A courageous WARRIOR MOM to the end … God bless her for the life she lived .. this was truly a tragic event … heartbreaking to say the least.
Posted by: Bob Moffit | September 28, 2020 at 07:42 AM