The HOV lane to Hell

The worst medical care bureaucracies can offer us is a cot and a cloth in which to lie and wait for death. But is it care, or mere expediency?

I read this article and thought about our own kids in the US and elsewhere, kids with autism--thousands and thousands of them--who will probably be institutionalized for life. I am profoundly grateful that our girl will not be one of them. But then we never accepted the standard 'solutions' to her care. If left to the advice of the standard solution, we would mostly like still have a child who was still non-verbal and constantly angry.

While I'll never say that vaccinations are the cause of the increase in autism, I do stand-by the belief that the current public health policies for vaccinations favor expediency over common sense and convienence over individualized care. Some bodies can handle the onslaught of vaccinations "required" by these policies in the first two years--even the first two hours!--of a childs life. Some bodies cannot.

Look around you and listen to parents. Everywhere I meet families forever changed by autism. Most folks know nothing about treatment beyond ABA and speech/occupational therapy. They don't know that their children need healing, not simply reconditioning. And their children become part-time wards of the school system, deferring the day when the kids will become even greater challenges to our state and community governments because they are incapable of living independent lives. There are many of them out there, and no one yet knows the cost we will all pay for the expediency of public health policies.

This summer Tesla will once again participate in a two-week morning "Autism Camp" that will train teachers and other school professionals how to work with kids on the spectrum. The camp is open only to elementary aged kids (up to 5th grade) in our Tulsa school district. Last summer over 50 kids attended this camp. Tesla was three years old and (because of a state early intervention program) the youngest child there. I was thrilled the district recognized the practical need to help teachers prepare for this generation of ASD kids. But I was even angrier at the number of kids who needed that help. This should not be.

Think again whenever you can when someone presents you with a simple solution that theoretically suits millions. Expediency, folks, is the HOV lane to Hell.