Reprinted from Valentine's day in light of a story in the NY Post that describes the HORROR for one woman who may have had an autism diagnosis, whose "God-fearing" parents are alleged to have let her rot and melt into the family couch. Thank you to Dana Kennedy for acknowledging this story and allowing us all to keep Lacey Fletcher in our thoughts. Autism is a CRISIS for America.
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By Kim Rossi
Today, I'll wear my heart on my sleeve. There’s no greater love than what I have witnessed in the autism parenting community. If your child has Down Syndrome, Cancer, Cerebral Palsy, Cystic Fibrosis, Spina Bifida, Muscular Dystrophy or anything other than autism - you have a medical community ready to embrace and help you, you have religious institutions planning potlucks and GoFundMes. Ronald McDonald House and St. Jude are there to serve you. You get gentle looks in public. Friends and family try to help - even if they fail. Not so with autism. We do this backbreaking, heartbreaking work alone, desperately trying to make the right choices for our children. Meds? ABA? Early Intervention? Biomed? Spelling? PECS? AAC? At home? Group home? General ed? Contained classroom? And in adulthood? You start from scratch again with far fewer supports than when your child was school age. We are BEASTS for our kids.
So, on this St. Valentine's Day 2024, from all of us at Age of Autism, we SEE you. We LOVE you. We ARE you.
Here's to avoiding the red dye!
Kim
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New from Skyhorse Publishing. By Senator Rand Paul
Senator Rand Paul was on to Anthony Fauci from the start. Wielding previously unimaginable power, Fauci misled the country about the origins of the Covid pandemic and shut down scientific dissent.One of the few leaders who dared to challenge "America’s Doctor" was Senator Rand Paul, himself a physician.
Deception is his indictment of the catastrophic failures of the public health bureaucracy during the pandemic.
Senator Paul presents the evidence that:
- The Covid virus was likely the product of gain-of-function research at the Wuhan lab in China—research funded in part by the U.S. government.
- Taxpayer dollars for that research were deceptively funneled to Wuhan without the required regulatory review.
- Fauci and his scientific yes-men knew from day one about Covid’s origin and tried to cover it up.
- Fauci and his allies ruthlessly attacked everyone—including highly qualified scientists—who threatened to reveal the truth about the pandemic.
Why? Hundreds of millions of dollars of grants and unreported royalties were at stake, and heads would roll if the truth got out.
It almost worked. At Fauci’s insistence, the government imposed needlessly extreme lockdowns on Americans at the cost of immense personal and economic destruction.
Covid-19 was deadly, but the real killer was the coverup, led by America’s most durable medical bureaucrat—a man for whom the truth was too often expendable.
Senator Paul makes a powerful case that funding dangerous bioengineering in a totalitarian country is madness. If we don’t heed this warning, the next pandemic could be far worse.
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Kim-I also am thinking about St. Jude, Shriner's Hospital for Children and all the others that help children with cancer, physical disabilities and wonder why autism is so overlooked after all the years of the numbers climbing with no end in sight. I am thankful for my husband, my older son who looks after his younger autistic brother, and the loving grandparents who lived with us and are no longer here that we miss so much. I am thankful for all the wonderful people who came into our lives to support and encourage my son all these long and difficult years. I am praying every day for researchers somewhere to find a miracle cure for our disabled children so they can have the normal life that they have lost. God Bless all our special children and hope for the future.
Posted by: Gayle | February 15, 2024 at 08:52 AM
Kim-I am thinking the same thing everytime I see the ads for St. Jude and others. Our kids deserve so much better. Happy Valentines Day to you and the girls. And to dear Anne too.
Maurine
Posted by: mauine Meleck | February 14, 2024 at 08:16 AM
Beautifully written and well said, Kim. In the thick of it, we sometimes lose sight of the heartbreaking truths you wrote. It feels good to have someone recognize, spell out, and appreciate the yeoman’s work we autism parents lovingly, painstakingly, and tirelessly do. Thank you for putting words to what we live.
It is also a good time to thank those who have helped along this difficult journey. I thank the Lord for His magnificent provision, presence, power, and peace. I thank my parents and sisters for being thoughtful, loving, kind, and generous, always. I thank our other two children, and son-in-law, for the love, patience, and care they have for their brother. I thank the wonderful, hard working tutors we had for nearly 25 years. I thank a current helper we have who helps out a couple times per month for 3 hours each time. I thank our good friends who have included and shown touching love and concern for our son and family. And I thank the few and far between healthcare practitioners we have seen who have helped with compassion and dedication in times of need.
Sending love to our AoA Family today, and every day.
Posted by: Laura Hayes | February 14, 2024 at 08:10 AM