Word: adult
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...very low-functioning autistics like Noah will require intensive support throughout their lives. If recent estimates of prevalence by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are accurate, then 1 in 150 of today's children is autistic. That means we are in for a vast number of adult autistics - most better adjusted than Noah, some as bad off - who will be a burden to parents, siblings and, eventually, society...
...largely unprepared to deal with this crisis. Autism funding and research, so far, have predominantly focused on children. When I have visited autism conferences, there have been exceedingly few research projects devoted to low-functioning adult autistics. It remains difficult for families of adult autistics to find the programs they need, to access those services that are available and even to locate medical professionals and dentists who can handle adult autistics. Too much of the burden rests on the families themselves, who remain in the picture as caregivers, advocates and, too often, the only party with the autistic adult...
...risks of Community Care for families of the adult autistic or mentally challenged are numerous. Perhaps the greatest worry is that the state will cut the promised funding per client, leaving families to foot the bill. Institutions like Fairview, flawed though they sometimes are, are often necessary for care of the lowest-functioning or violently autistic. The seemingly benign term community care, when it is invoked by conservative state representatives in domed capitols, is too often a code word for budget-cutting. The concept of moving the autistic into loving group homes where they will be taught or looked after...
...insatiable demand for narratives that end in triumph over an affliction: the cripple walks, the mute speaks, the autistic boy laughs and hugs and cries. We hunger for that uplifting journey, as opposed to the cruel odyssey I had to tell. What did I have to offer? My adult brother, still autistic, still nonverbal, still lost. As much as I hope that all the autistic boys and girls will get better, and as much as I can encourage their families to fight with all the hope they have, I also know that they will not all recover...
...walk that line for them? It's different for you as an adult, but for your girls, they could be the ultimate role models too, which would be an enormous burden to ... except it sort of comes with the fact that they are the most ... they are the children in the world that people are most interested in. So how do you help them walk the line of normal vs. the position they're in? We stay 100% in their world all the time. And I don't know if you understand that, but their lives are very disconnected from...