Life with Autism After 18
Age of Autism Contributor Dan Burns wrote the following comment on our post Pi Day 2021 a Far Cry from when Autism Was In the Media in the 20-Teens:
"The adult issues are housing, friends, and jobs. It takes an autism parent to fully appreciate the dilemmas of aging with ASD. But some non-autism parents get it too, when they see the videos. So here we are, readers, media sheen gone, and we are largely on on own. Speaking of the grim picture as autism parents grow older, take a peek at the 3-minute "Prologue" I made after my son Ben aged out of school. https://vimeo.com/303927660 I used the prologue to raise autism awareness in live presentations to about a dozen Rotary clubs, pre-Covid. One parent was so moved he came up to me after the show, shook my hand, and left a $100 dollar bill in my palm. I used the money plus grants from Rotary clubs to help make a follow up video, "Hide Your Love Away," https://vimeo.com/497137370 "
He's 100% correct. Once adults, the bottom drops out of most supports, education, therapy and Mom and Dad are placed squarely back in the role of full time personal assistant. And our clients are sometimes pretty challenging. Even though we adore them. This brief video from Dan provides a glimpse into life for so many of us. The stress. The relief of a few moments of quiet. Here in my home? I have exactly 11 hours of "quiet" each week between Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, when all three of my daughters are at school or their day program. That's it. And it's more than some of our readers have, so I'm not complaining.
00 Prologue (New) from daneburns45 on Vimeo.
M2021, it’s true autism is/was glorified by so many media outlets, such as the Good Doctor, Born on a Blue Day, Temple Grandin, etc
I found works such as Hikari To Tomo Ni (光とともに, with the light, a Japanese severe autism drama), Children of the Stars (Chinese autism movie), Autism Every Day (infamous Autism Speaks PSA) and the upcoming “Saving Hope” by Dan E Burns to be brutally, yet importantly honest.
If we keep sugarcoating autism, like how “My Fat and Fabulous Live” sugarcoats obesity, we won’t see what a painful, frightening disorder autism is for the majority.
Posted by: TellTheTruth | March 23, 2021 at 04:40 PM
I’m also sick of seeing videos of kids with PANDAS/other vaccine injury being tortured inside mental institutions, having uncontrollable meltdowns (no way the fault of the patient), and then attending expensive CBT sessions that viciously blame the patient whilst keeping their vaccine injury unresolved.
Exact same thing with bipolar kids + schizophrenic kids.
Definitely the patients fault (sarcasm) he/she got jabbed with aluminum, fetal/animal tissue, mercury, etc... right?
It’s a cycle.
I’m so sick of this medical system which is poisoning, disabling, and maddening kids. The U.S. will have to pay literal trillions of dollars in autism costs. Seizure and autism drugs + aluminum accumulation in brain tissue which leads to childhood bipolar disorders, aggression, violence, rages, etc.
Posted by: M2021 | March 19, 2021 at 12:22 PM
Agree Julie.
How much prone restraints, psych ward torture, special ed funding, special diet bills, drugging, patient blame, aluminum adjuvants, expensive coercive therapies, and guardianship papers more until all vaccines are completely banned?
Banned for causing neurological impairments, gastrointestinal disorders, childhood mental illnesses, seizures, and allergies?
If voluntarily poisoning babies and children with vaccine adjuvants remains, many families will still take it.
Posted by: M2021 | March 18, 2021 at 11:54 AM
M2021,
'I wish all mandatory vaccination would be banned completely.'
I wish all vaccination would be banned completely.
Posted by: Julie | March 18, 2021 at 06:00 AM
This generation of kids that have already aged out of the school system are the very same kids that barely had services. They were the "Trail Blazers" around 20-30 years ago and once again they are the "Trail Blazers" as Adults with Autism. There are hardly any places for them to go once their parents are deceased and often the siblings and other relatives don't want the pressure or responsibility of caring for them. Perhaps 20 years from now there might be some alternative place but for now the options are dismal. Additionally I am wondering if the primary caretakers-usually the moms, are having shorter lifespans or PTSD.
Posted by: Shell | March 17, 2021 at 10:16 PM
I agree that we must "KEEP HOPE ALIVE" for our sake and for the sake of our beloved children/adults with autism. We must keep the belief that with all the technology and medical advancements we have today that some team of researchers from somewhere in the world will find the true CURE for our children's condition and they will be freed from the autism epidemic and be able to live normal lives as they have every right to do. Never give up the hope for a miracle CURE.
Posted by: Gayle | March 17, 2021 at 03:31 PM
I wish all mandatory vaccination would be banned completely.
I don’t want to see anybody (especially children and disabled people) being coerced restrained and force drugged/injected/neglected/tortured inside mental wards, being abused and murdered by parents/caregivers, involuntarily throw violent tantrums/meltdowns in schools and places in general (by no means the fault of these vaccine injured people) or having to get guardian papers signed at age 18/ living a life on SSI unemployed or minimally employed.
Most media romanticizes autism.
Posted by: M2021 | March 17, 2021 at 09:54 AM
As Jesse Jackson always says .. KEEP HOPE ALIVE … it is the only thing we can do for ourselves as well as our loved ones.
Posted by: Bob Moffit | March 17, 2021 at 08:27 AM