topic Re: Autism Awareness Month in Community Chat

Autism Awareness Month

Deb1010yetagain — Sat, 02 Apr 2016 17:56:07 GMT

April is Autism Awareness Month. I know many of us have family members and friends with autism. I've decided to support an autism project with a small donation in honor of my nephew. My sister found a great site to help me find a project near me it's DonorsChoose.org

My nephew, Isaac, is adorable. He communicates via an ipad with a programmed voice. He hits various keys to spell or say a word of what he wants. His favorite things these days are potato chips and peeps. He is a very sweet gentle boy (8 years old) and loves to laugh.

Please share any of your own stories or whatever you feel like saying in honor of Autism Awareness Month.

Re: Autism Awareness Month

violann — Sat, 02 Apr 2016 18:21:39 GMT

@Deb1010yetagain wrote:
April is Autism Awareness Month. I know many of us have family members and friends with autism. I've decided to support an autism project with a small donation in honor of my nephew. My sister found a great site to help me find a project near me it's DonorsChoose.org

My nephew, Isaac, is adorable. He communicates via an ipad with a programmed voice. He hits various keys to spell or say a word of what he wants. His favorite things these days are potato chips and peeps. He is a very sweet gentle boy (8 years old) and loves to laugh.

Please share any of your own stories or whatever you feel like saying in honor of Autism Awareness Month.

Wonderful post!

Re: Autism Awareness Month

hyacinth003 — Sat, 02 Apr 2016 21:41:26 GMT

My daughter has an autism spectrum disorder. She would like people to be aware it doesn't END in childhood!

This continues all throughout their lives. She feels like research and help ENDS in everyone's mind in childhood. The issues are life long.

I love it that there's more information out there. It helps that these children are understood better, and their parents aren't looked at as bad parents when their children act differently.

Hyacinth

Re: Autism Awareness Month

riley1 — Sat, 02 Apr 2016 22:17:34 GMT

I made several quilts using fabrics that supported Autism Awareness. It was a great feeling to donate these quilts. Also, April is Esophageal Cancer Awareness Month - there is a thread in the Wellness section giving information.

Re: Autism Awareness Month

JustJazzmom — Sat, 02 Apr 2016 22:46:11 GMT

Just remember that there are many autistic people that will never be able to live independently from their parents or learn to drive or ride a bicycle or hold down a job. The autistic people we see portrayed on many television shows fall under the Asperger's group of autistics. These are a small percentage that fall under the category of autism.

Many will never be able to communicate well or tell someone when they are hurting. These are the people we need to keep watch over.

Re: Autism Awareness Month

jaxs mom — Sat, 02 Apr 2016 22:40:09 GMT

Thanks for posting.

Re: Autism Awareness Month

Deb1010yetagain — Sun, 03 Apr 2016 14:59:29 GMT

@jaxs mom@JustJazzmom@riley1@hyacinth003@violann

Thanks for your replies.

Re: Autism Awareness Month

Susan-QVC — Sun, 03 Apr 2016 15:25:01 GMT

This post has been removed by QVC unkind

Re: Autism Awareness Month

dooBdoo — Sun, 03 Apr 2016 17:51:22 GMT

Thank you for this thoughtful thread, @Deb1010yetagain, and thanks to all the posters for sharing stories and information.

❤️

Re: Autism Awareness Month

Puzzle Piece — Sun, 03 Apr 2016 19:46:14 GMT

Not unkind, my post was my experience to share and what really took place.

Living next door to very unhappy people with a so-called autistic member did make us all in the neighborhood miserable. Why? The people never took him to centers of learning or understanding of the disorders he had. And, no, we didn't have anyone with that issue in either my family or my husbands.

Re: Autism Awareness Month

RoughDraft — Sun, 03 Apr 2016 20:00:40 GMT

Years ago, I worked in a children's outpatient psychiatric clinic. This clinic started one of the first day care centers for autistic children...long before it was it was understood by the general population. Through research, kindness and understanding, many of these beautiful children started to receive the treatment they so desperately needed. Proper diagnosis and early treatment have come a long way in helping them and their families. We still have a long way to go.

Re: Autism Awareness Month

hyacinth003 — Sun, 03 Apr 2016 20:40:03 GMT

@Puzzle Piece wrote:
Not unkind, my post was my experience to share and what really took place.
Living next door to very unhappy people with a so-called autistic member did make us all in the neighborhood miserable. Why? The people never took him to centers of learning or understanding of the disorders he had. And, no, we didn't have anyone with that issue in either my family or my husbands.

Just weird.

Hyacinth

Re: Autism Awareness Month

hyacinth003 — Sun, 03 Apr 2016 20:46:40 GMT

@JustJazzmom wrote:
Just remember that there are many autistic people that will never be able to live independently from their parents or learn to drive or ride a bicycle or hold down a job. The autistic people we see portrayed on many television shows fall under the Asperger's group of autistics. These are a small percentage that fall under the category of autism.
Many will never be able to communicate well or tell someone when they are hurting. These are the people we need to keep watch over.

My neighbor had a grandson that was profoundly autistic. He will never be able to live independently. As he grew up, he became physically large, and his very devoted mother could not handle him.

Whatever you see on shows doesn't truly portray even Asperger's correctly. My daughter is extremely intelligent, has a college degree, so you would think all is well. It is NOT with these people. They suffer terribly from social issues, not having friends, getting depressed over such, etc. She could live independently due to her intelligence. Her doctor has a son with Asperger's that became an attorney, but cannot work. He just can't figure certain things out. Being female, my daughter does better, according to her child psychiatrist. My daughter was hospitalized twice at age 12 due to emotional problems. So, it still profoundly affects their lives.

But, I am quite aware of the severity of some on the autism spectrum, and my heart goes out to their families.

Hyacinth

Re: Autism Awareness Month

RoughDraft — Sun, 03 Apr 2016 20:54:28 GMT

@Puzzle Piece wrote:
Not unkind, my post was my experience to share and what really took place.
Living next door to very unhappy people with a so-called autistic member did make us all in the neighborhood miserable. Why? The people never took him to centers of learning or understanding of the disorders he had. And, no, we didn't have anyone with that issue in either my family or my husbands.

I'm not quite sure what you mean by the term "so-called autistic." Perhaps this is the reason for Autism Awareness month...to help educate people who are unfamiliar with it.

I'm also not sure how long ago this "misery" you, your family and neighbors endured. Perhaps it was before the light was turned on and the situation was brought out of the shadows. Perhaps the child's family didn't have the help they needed at that time.

I went through the first to eighth grade with a young girl who had Downs Syndrome and while it was a struggle for her to keep up at times, we children and the nuns who taught her stuck with her to see her graduate. A proud moment for her parents and her graduating class. This was long before there were many options out there for autistic or Downs Syndrome children.

Re: Autism Awareness Month

Deb1010yetagain — Sun, 03 Apr 2016 20:58:11 GMT

@hyacinth003 wrote:
@JustJazzmom wrote:
Just remember that there are many autistic people that will never be able to live independently from their parents or learn to drive or ride a bicycle or hold down a job. The autistic people we see portrayed on many television shows fall under the Asperger's group of autistics. These are a small percentage that fall under the category of autism.
Many will never be able to communicate well or tell someone when they are hurting. These are the people we need to keep watch over.
My neighbor had a grandson that was profoundly autistic. He will never be able to live independently. As he grew up, he became physically large, and his very devoted mother could not handle him.

Whatever you see on shows doesn't truly portray even Asperger's correctly. My daughter is extremely intelligent, has a college degree, so you would think all is well. It is NOT with these people. They suffer terribly from social issues, not having friends, getting depressed over such, etc. She could live independently due to her intelligence. Her doctor has a son with Asperger's that became an attorney, but cannot work. He just can't figure certain things out. Being female, my daughter does better, according to her child psychiatrist. My daughter was hospitalized twice at age 12 due to emotional problems. So, it still profoundly affects their lives.

But, I am quite aware of the severity of some on the autism spectrum, and my heart goes out to their families.

Hyacinth

@hyacinth003, my heart goes out to you. It is impressive all your daughter has achieved in spite of her diagnosis.

It is such a heartbreak. In my sister's case, my nephew will never be able to live independently and we'll see how his personality progresses as he goes thru puberty. We just take it one day at a time and are happy now that he seems happy and can communicate in some way. Plus my sister and her husband have good jobs so they can afford the very best for him.

Re: Autism Awareness Month

Wen_Woman — Sun, 03 Apr 2016 21:33:34 GMT

My 11 year old son has autism. He is a sweet boy who enjoys playing with his calculator and talking about numbers. He is one of those who probably will never live independently. Please think of these children and adults, along with their families, this month.

Re: Autism Awareness Month

hyacinth003 — Sun, 03 Apr 2016 22:17:05 GMT

@Wen Woman wrote:
My 11 year old son has autism. He is a sweet boy who enjoys playing with his calculator and talking about numbers. He is one of those who probably will never live independently. Please think of these children and adults, along with their families, this month.

My daughter had obsessions and talked about them a LOT! Hers were things like dinosaurs, whales & dolphins, Thomas the Tank Engine (her biggest), etc.

What does he say about numbers?

Hyacinth

Re: Autism Awareness Month

PurpleBunny — Sun, 03 Apr 2016 22:39:48 GMT

Thank you for the thread Deb! And thank you to all those supportive, understanding, kind-hearted posters. Hugs to posters that have loved ones with Autism.

And as for the "unkind" - that one speaks volumes. Thank you QVC for taking note.

Re: Autism Awareness Month

Wsmom — Mon, 04 Apr 2016 01:41:36 GMT

@Puzzle Piece, are you by chance in northenrn Ca where there was the lawsuit? I'm purposely being evasive, but if you are I think you will know what I mean.

Re: Autism Awareness Month

Bluecage — Mon, 04 Apr 2016 02:42:14 GMT

My son has autism. He is the kindest, sweetest soul I've ever met. While I can generally puzzle out what's going on with him, one of my greatest fears is his being in a situation where he's in great pain or distress, and can't communicate it very precisely, or in a prompt manner.