Sunday, February 26, 2006

Finding Autism Resources: The Old Fashion Way

I've posted a link to a very good article, a continuing story about my son. The year is 1989, there's no internet, cell phones, and or personal computers - as we know them. Sometimes our best sources for Autism were the phonebook and the library. Not the computers at the library, but the books and the card file. Word of mouth, encyclopedias, and real interpersonal connections; they were our only tangible resources available. And, we had to use the telephone, the voice kind, without a modem. Or we got in our car and drove to their office.

Our Families did what they could to help. My family, the closest, was 100 miles away, but they were not in a position to contribute. My late mother suffered from debilitating arthritis, my step-dad had a full time job just taking care of her. My siblings had their own families. My late father, who lived just across the Potomac in Nothern Virginia, would send us money if we needed it. We were having to live off one income, since my wife was not able to work and be a fulltime mother to John. I worked a few parttime jobs, but it barely made a difference and it just took me away from home. My wife's family, who lives in Florida, came to visit many times, not just stateside, but overseas too. They come through for us on many occassions, birthday's, Christmas's, and others when we just had nothing.

We probably made a hundred trips to Walter Reed Hospital that first year, and maybe as many to the Kennedy Institute the following years. But the payoff was well worth any personal or professional sacrifices we had to make. At 19 years old, John is a healthy young man that knows how to behave in public; knows to stay right with us, or with a group he's with at school.

There's a lot more to be told in the coming months, I hope you will check back again soon. Please read the full article at Finding Autism Resources - The Old Fashioned Way

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Do you believe vaccinations cause or contribute to autism?