Last night I went to the monthly Father's Network meeting at the Snohomish County ARC in Everett for the first time. It was nice to get out of the house, but more importantly it was good to hear about the struggles of other fathers with special needs kids as well as get to share my own. There were about 8-10 of us there, and my wife was not there so I had to do all of my own talking.
And that was really the hard part, being social even with a small group can be challenging and tiring. Even more so when most of the people in the room I'd not met before. One thing I did come away with was even though we all had kids with very diffent needs, there were many parts of our lives that were similar. Saturday night is the Snohomish County Father's Network Poker Night. Here's to hoping I have just a good of a time with less of the crash at the end.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Autism Awareness Month
April is Autism Awareness month, and I am one autistic that boths dreads and anticipates it. It's nice that there is a push to raise awareness of the challenges that those of us who are autistic face in life. Yet at the same time, it's hard to keep calm when groups like "Autism Speaks" use it to further their agenda. Please do me a favor this year, if you are thinking about donating to "Autism Speaks" please don't.
"Autism Speaks" has spent large amounts of money on research, but not research aimed at helping autistics. In the past they have pushed the idea that autism is "caused" by mercury poisoning, mostly pointing to vacceines as the source of the "poisoning." They are currently working on a test for autism, with the goal of a pre-natal test. This goes along with their mission of ending autism forever. Say goodbye to any future Einstein, as if they have their way the next Einsteind will be aborted before they are born.
What autistics need are services and understanding. Not hate and a eugenics program designed to eliminate them. If you want to help, volunteer or donate to groups that actually have autistic adults on their board of directors, such as ASAN
"Autism Speaks" has spent large amounts of money on research, but not research aimed at helping autistics. In the past they have pushed the idea that autism is "caused" by mercury poisoning, mostly pointing to vacceines as the source of the "poisoning." They are currently working on a test for autism, with the goal of a pre-natal test. This goes along with their mission of ending autism forever. Say goodbye to any future Einstein, as if they have their way the next Einsteind will be aborted before they are born.
What autistics need are services and understanding. Not hate and a eugenics program designed to eliminate them. If you want to help, volunteer or donate to groups that actually have autistic adults on their board of directors, such as ASAN
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