I’m not surprised . . .

The Atlanta Public Schools district is national news. And not in a good way. Many friends and family, knowing my battles as documented here with APS, have asked what I think about the recent CRCT cheating scandal. Safe to say I feel the same as most parents – embarrassed, angry. One thing I’m not, however, is [...]

April is autism awareness month . . .

The month of April means many things here in Georgia – warmer weather and its requisite pollen, the beginning of baseball season, the winding-down of the school year. For the past 30 years or so, April has also been designated ‘Autism Awareness Month’ in the US and abroad. It’s a time of conflicting emotions for [...]

The new discrimination

I woke up at 3 o’clock this morning with a sense of overwhelming anxiety, so I calmed myself by composing in my head what I would write about today. Writing and sharing our story is cathartic for me. I know there are thousands of families like ours and I want them to know they’re not [...]

You can’t make this stuff up . . .

Having tried to resolve our situation with Robert’s school and district since November 16th, I find myself exhausted and unable to go to into work because Robert can’t go to school. I’m lucky to be able to work from home, but I don’t know how long that will last and I’ve already missed important events [...]

An update . . . and Joe Jr. speaks

I’ve been amazed at the recent jumps in my blog readership. Apparently many are struggling on behalf of their children with disabilities and they’re looking for information and help with the public education system. I wish I could be of help to those families whose daily lives are filled with struggle and who really don’t [...]

Like slogging through quicksand

When I was a kid in the ’70s, I had an irrational fear of quicksand – it was used to great effect in the TV shows and movies I grew up with as the ultimate march to a slow and suffocating death. I’ve since learned that quicksand isn’t exactly what it was portrayed to be. [...]

Jenny

In the morning, I will be making a call to West Virginia Advocates. From their website: West Virginia Advocates, Inc (WVA) is a private non-profit agency dedicated to protecting and advocating for the legal rights of West Virginians with disabilities. We are designated as West Virginia’s Protection and Advocacy System (P&A). Every State is mandated [...]

Autism Speaks . . . but does it speak for me?

Autism has been in the news a lot lately. Some of it’s good and some of it’s bad. Sometimes I studiously avoid news about autism because it forces me to think about things and face some realities that maybe I’d rather not deal with right now. And celebrating my 39th birthday today, I like to [...]

You say tomato, I say tomato. . .

This will be short and sweet. I pretty much detest the use of the word “retarded”. I imagine that those who use the word either a) don’t know anyone who has experienced the pain or stigma of mental illness/impairment or b) Just don’t care. I probably used the word when I was in grade school, [...]

Healthcare Reform for Autism

Having not written in this space since April, I sat down at my keyboard today prepared to write about my doubts that meaningful healthcare reform legislation for people with autism could be passed in the current political climate. Indeed, judging from the media coverage, I was beginning to doubt any meaningful reform for healthcare could [...]