Adults on the Autism Spectrum - Autism Ontario

feedbackp MatthewThe Autism Newslink Spring 2006My Life with ASDMy name is Michael and I am 20years old. I have been pickedon by both children and adultsalike. My school years were the mosthorrible time of my life. The studentswould do terrible things and theteachers would do nothing to solveit. Then, to make matters worse, theteachers would pester me by calling me lazy because I wouldnot do my work. Instead of checking for reasons behind my lackof motivation, they would humiliate me in front of the class.When I got to high school, the same thing happened. Then onthe last year that I was in school, the principal called me and mymother in for a meeting. She told us that because I wasn’t up toher standards and skills, I no longer had a place at her school.It was horrible and vile, to be quite honest. No effort was madeto find out the reasons behind my performance.It seems that I have yet to fully cope with my disorder. I stillfind myself doing childish things like squealing with delightwhen I get excited. Obviously, this is not something that islooked upon as “normal” by society. To this end, I fully supportthe work that Autism Society Ontario is doing by educating andproviding support to families with ASD members. I would like tothank Leah Myers for being a good friend. I would like to thankASO as a whole for trying to get the message out concerningASD. Thank you all.Michael JohnsonA Face on AutismSpectrum DisorderIn May of 2004, my son Matthewwas diagnosed with Autism/PDD atage two and a half. His pediatricianreferred him to POPS (PediatricOutpatient Services) for speech andoccupation therapy. He was alsoreferred to Preschool Autism Services,a subsidiary of Erin Oak.Matthew is generally a happy childwith major behavioural challenges.He stims with his hands regularly,paces the floor and makes cooingnoises. At age four, he still doesnot have audible speech. He oftenhits himself and has severe tempertantrums for which we must restrainhim. He cannot use words to expresshis feelings and frustrations. Imagine how we feel as parents—helpless not knowing what to expect or what we can do to helpour son grow, develop and flourish.The causes and treatment of autism have still not been clearlydelineated. IBI therapy is helpful, however, in promoting fineand gross motor imitation as well as dealing with his behaviouraloutbursts.He has been on Erin Oak’s waiting list since May of 2004.Due to the Wynberg decision, he has been placed indefinitelyon the waiting list. He went from being tenth on the waitinglist to a child with 225 other school-aged children who werecut off from receiving services due to the age six cut-off. Whydidn’t the courts or politicians suggest that another agency beset up in order to redress the harm that was done to school-agedchildren with autism? This decision has had a disparate impacton my son’s development.We have had to hire our own IBI therapist for 10 hours aweek (one-third of his required level of services due to ourown immediate financial constraints). The cost of his therapyis beyond our reach—it costs us over $15,000 per year to havea therapist work with my son. What are we doing as a societyof parents with children who have autism to redress theseconcerns?The Conservative Party of Canada has won the election andhas the power to govern with a minority government. Do youknow of any local MPs who have promised to create a privatemember bill to have IBI therapy fall under the jurisdiction andsupport of OHIP/Medicare? If so, how can we lend our supportto them in a political manner? What does it take to become apowerful lobby or interest group in our federal parliamentarysystem?John Andreacchi (Teacher and ASO Halton Member)Diagnosed at 39As the parents of a 42-year-old man who was diagnosedwith ASD at age 39, we felt the need to express our viewsand concerns in your magazine. Our son is high-functioningbut socially inept. He seems much younger than his 42 years.His life has been a struggle to fit in with society as a whole, aschool system that didn’t understand and labelled him “bad,”and a small town where kids can be cruel to someone who is“different.”After many years of failed attempts to get help for him, wefinally got a doctor’s attention by having our whole extendedfamily write their “story” of life with our son. They wrote howthey hoped to see help come to him, as he continued to fallthrough the cracks of our mental health system.Since our son’s diagnosis, he finally got onto ODSP, whichwas quite a relief for us as we were supporting him financiallyall these years. It would be helpful if there were more affordablehousing. The amount they are allowed to spend on rent doesn’tbegin to cover the cost of apartments and the wait list forsubsidized housing in the London area is years and years. Hispresent living accommodation is quite unsuitable as the areahas become increasingly crime ridden. He is nervous and staysin his basement apartment most of the time. He is in a Catch 22situation as the present landlord would like him out, so he canraise the rent. To that end, he hasn’t seen fit to fix anything. Theplace is damp and mouldy, the toilet leaks and the baseboardelectric heat doesn’t work. This leaves our son trying to heat theplace with small heaters that could be dangerous. This landlordis taking advantage of the disadvantaged. Our son doesn’t wantus to interfere because he is afraid he will be homeless.Because he has such a hard time making friends, he hasbecome very attached to a stray cat that he rescued from thebusy streets of London one rainy, cold night seven years ago.This has proven to be a very good thing for him as friendshipwith people seems hard to come by. He is very vulnerable to asad tale of woe and will lend money (which he can’t spare) onlyto discover that he never sees the recipient again.