Fighting for Answers | Author Archives | Page 25carl, Author at Fighting for Answers

a thought about publicity and blogging about my son

there are some who write blogs about their families that do so for the attention and the publicity that they can attain. My blog has never been about getting a bunch of attention. It has been about our struggles with mental illness in a small child. It is about our struggle in getting appropriate services both in school and in treatment centers for that child. We, our family, miss David everyday that he is gone. He has been in the residential psychiatric facility for 2 and a half months. In that time, my level of posting has decreased. Why? Without David at home, there is very little to write about. His care is satisfactory, he appears to be responding well to treatment goals. We do not know when David will be returning to the family home. At this point, we want to get through the holidays and see how things

my child with autism is not a monster

Let us get this straight. Autism is not a monstrous disorder that makes people into killers. My son with autism is not a monster. My son with autism is highly intelligent. My son with autism is reclusive and at times shy. My son with autism doesn’t handle stimulation well. My son with autism doesn’t handle most social situations appropriately. My son with autism doesn’t respond to bullies appropriately. My son with autism is a human being who is different from those without autism. My son is not Adam in the making. To imply that any autism tendencies that Adam displayed were the reason for his murderous spree, is doing a huge disservice to anyone with an autism spectrum diagnosis. My son knows he has a form of autism. To us, the autism isn’t a hindrance, it is a bonus that has gifted him with extraordinary abilities in information recall and

Cultural Diversity Panel

Last night, I was given the wonderful opportunity to be part of a panel of speakers regarding cultural diversity. There were four speakers, myself, an African-American, a gay person, and someone whose name matches a name on the terror watch list. It was an interesting two hours. I was humbled after listening to the other three speakers. I didn’t know if my story about David was as important as the stories each of them told. Their stories were much more involved than what I write about here. So much more, but in the end, their stories are theirs, and not mine to tell. Their stories were about: About being a United States Citizen and having to prove certain things in order to be able to fly again. About being gay and not being able to visit a loved one in the hospital because you aren’t “family”. About being a black