The impact has had a dramatic effect on our family. Our accustomed standard of living has changed significantly. Adjusting hasn’t been easy and certainly not without the addition of debt.

Our healthy family has been impacted by the autism…and not just by the added expenses for our autistic son’s needs. Add to that the cost for family counseling, the stress-induced illnesses the rest of us suffer, and the medications to treat our depression and this is money over and above the costs for raising an autistic child.

No tax deductions, no credits and we are spiraling down into the bottom of the trash can.

This pretty much captures the state of the health care reform debate here in the U.S. We are drowning in both unchecked stupidity and an insatiable need by so many to scream and spew ‘facts’ without bothering to even check that any part of them is remotely true.

I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t know what’s the best approach to solving our health care and insurance disaster here. But my overriding beliefs are that anything that doesn’t acknowledge that our current system is completely broken is a non-starter, and let’s at least insure everybody and make sure they have access to care and then worry about how to fix whatever we discover is broken or frustrating or inefficient about it. Let’s not worry about wasting some water when the building is on fire; we can deal with that later.

The big hurdle we’ll have to clear is that not everything can be covered. There’s not enough money on the earth for that. But where do you draw that line? And that battle will likely be even worse than the current one, and one that may provoke (another) civil war in the world of autism as everybody tries to get their therapy covered, no matter how outlandish, ineffective, or expensive it is.

But to circle back around, I’m really tired of hearing about the Canadian boogeyman of health care. (I guess we’ve branched out to the UK lately too.) Is that type of system perfect? No. Nothing is. But periodic frustration is not a bad price to pay vs. denial of care, bankruptcy, and death. Hyperbole? Probably. But I’m not the one invoking the Soviet Union in this debate like many here are. (Sheesh!)

I think people should be required to offer a better plan rather than reflexively say No to everything and blame Canada, or the UK, or whatever.

OK, I didn’t mean to write on that long and endlessly shake my verbal fist at many of my fellow citizens. Thanks for your (very informed!) comment!

I’ve been intending to put together a list of blogs I read that are written by autistic adults. They provide many insights on the sorts of issues people face as they move toward adulthood and the challenges of education, vocation, family, independence, disability rights, and much more. All sorts of things on my to-do list have remained undone with new baby, summer break, and everything else, but this will motivate me to finally work on that.

There’s also a book called “Ten Things Your Student With Autism Wishes You Knew” written by Ellen Notbohm. I haven’t read that book, but I have read her “Ten Things Every Child With Autism Wishes You Knew” and found it enormously insightful. I’d check out her writings if you get a chance.

Thanks again for writing!