by Tim on January 18, 2010
I humbly ask Dr. King’s forgiveness for borrowing from his eloquence and for the meager quality of my own words as I draw from his gift to us, one of the most transcendent speeches in our history. All generations after him will be asked to tell about their dreams for our world. Here are some of mine.
Our futures are inextricably bound together. We cannot walk alone. And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always walk forward. We cannot turn back.
Whenever local, state, and federal governments and the schools within our communities give us and our children so little and then tell us to be satisfied that we even get that, let us say, “We are not satisfied, and we shall not be satisfied until every child has a fair chance to realize their potential and all prejudice is washed away by the tidal wave of our determination and love.”
Let us invest ourselves fully in our families, go into our communities, and do the hard work that has to be done and not wallow in the valley of despair.
Though we face the difficulties of yesterday, today, and tomorrow, I still have a dream.
I have a dream that our children will not be judged by what they can or cannot do but valued for who they are, just as they are.
I have a dream that whenever someone either cannot or is not allowed to speak up for themselves, the very stones in the ground shall cry out and we will all stand and proclaim the immeasurable worth of all.
I have a dream that all persons with disabilities will be treated as equals and afforded equal rights and access in every aspect of their lives.
I have a dream that all children will be treated with respect and provided the education and services they need to express their gifts to the fullest.
I have a dream that wherever injustice is committed against an innocent child that we will respond tenfold with unity, conviction, and action.
I have a dream that people will have access to the vocational training and assistance needed to work and live independently and follow the path they feel called to.
I have a dream that schools will not have to hold bake sales and raffles to pay the bills and that teachers won’t have to buy supplies from the money in their own pockets.
I have a dream that teachers and therapists will be valued and paid at a level nearer to all the miracles they perform everyday.
I have a dream that more money will be spent on services and support for both children and adults.
I have a dream that whenever any of us begins to fall there will always be another to help them back up again.
I have a dream that instead of judging we will take the time to understand.
I have a dream that what unites us will be stronger than what divides us.
I have a dream that we will always be thankful for those who started on this path before us so that we might have faith that we can walk the road that still lies ahead of us.
I have a dream that no one will ever again be forced to choose between getting care and services for their children or buying food.
I have a dream that everyone’s voice shall be heard, regardless of whether it comes out of their mouths, their hands, a computer, or a picture board.
I have a dream that where so many now see despair, damage, and burden that we can instead all discover and proclaim hope, beauty, and opportunity.
I have a dream today.
by Tim on February 22, 2009
This is Part 2 of our series “What’s Your Autistic Toddler Like Now?”, a journey through what’s happening these days in the life of our autistic 3 1/2-year-old son and sequel to our very popular original article, “What’s Your Autistic Toddler Like?”.
Note: Wherever you see “DSM-IV” below, this means that attribute is part of the diagnostic criteria for autism spectrum disorders in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders – Fourth Edition or DSM-IV. In medical terms, a specific combination of those DSM-IV criteria is what brings about a diagnosis of autism.
Same obvious disclaimer as before: We are not advising you on how to evaluate your child. Go get them evaluated by professionals with extensive experience with autism. Don’t just rely on some random people on the Internet – namely, people like us.
If you haven’t already, go back and read Part 1. If you have, let’s continue on!
Characteristics That Are Significantly Present (continued)
Difficulty with social awareness (a bit better but a lot to work on) – I don’t know whether this has an official meaning, but I think of social awareness in a very broad sense as being aware that there are people around you and that they can be engaged with at some interpersonal level. For some time, we referred to other kids in the room as ‘part of the furniture’ as our son didn’t interact with them much differently than any other object in the room.
School has helped him in this regard in that he has regular time every school day with the same children and is involved in activities with them on an ongoing basis. You still get the sense that he’d usually be content without them, but often the emotions of an autistic toddler are inscrutable.
He does enjoy watching other kids do funny things, but watching rather than playing with children is one of those possible signs of autism, and this is a fairly accurate description of where he is right now.
That said, it is nice to see that he’s aware that other people have names, and he can use a name to refer to a person, though usually now that’s only with some prompting.
Continue on with Part 3! [click to continue…]
by Tim on February 20, 2009
Many times over, our “What’s Your Autistic Toddler Like?” post is the most read article on this site. It’s also the post people most often cite as the reason why they write us and become regular readers of our blog. We are gratified by your response to our story about our son and hope all this has been helpful to you and your family.
In celebration of the 1st Anniversary of our blog, I decided to write a multi-part series, revisit that popular post, and update it for what the J-Man is doing now almost 9 months later. The original “What’s Your Autistic Toddler Like?” gave you a snapshot of what an autistic toddler might be like – or at least what ours was like – about three months before his 3rd birthday.
[click to continue…]
by Tim on February 8, 2009
OK. I’m thoroughly confused. I can’t find a straight answer on exactly what the latest ‘compromise’ is, but from what I’ve been reading, it sounds like special education funding was salvaged to something back to its original funding levels. This is in spite of the overall pool of money going to states toward overall stabilization of their massive budget shortfalls being cut significantly.
It looks like school infrastructure investments got hit hard, though. I can’t find any reliable information about other disability services and vocational programs at this point. If you know what the heck is going on, I’d love to hear from you.
And as a general comment, if you know someone concerned about funding special ed not stimulating the economy, you should tell them about the massive backlog of everything in the school systems and county agencies, the complete lack of adequate numbers of teachers and therapists in the vast majority of counties, and argue that, hey I bet hiring more people would help some of this!
Whatever passes the Senate – presumably by Monday – will lead to a group of Senators and Representatives locking themselves in a room for a conference committee and hashing out what will ultimately go to President Obama’s desk. Conference committees are confusing things. At least I don’t understand them. Though it seems like anything from tax rebates for bloggers to investments in alternative energy from harnessing methane from cows could be in that final bill for all we know at this point.
Anyway, enough soapboxing. None of this is a done deal, so keep contacting those who represent you in Congress!
by Tim on February 6, 2009
[Update 2/7/09 - If you came to this post directly from Google or somewhere else, go read the latest update.]
I’m dumbstruck by this, but I guess we shouldn’t be surprised.
A group of Senators from both parties has been working to reduce the size of the Stimulus Package by $100 billion dollars. Not surprisingly, the biggest chunk of that is coming from special education, school infrastructure improvements, Head Start, disabilities services funding, and related areas. IDEA funds are currently being cut in half from the proposed original amount. Much of the rest is completely gutted.
It looks almost certain this ‘compromise’ is going to be part of the final Senate bill.
We have two hopes here. First, The Arc has put out the alert and provided a tool by which to contact your Senators. Go to their Action Alert page, type in your zip code, and you can find out how to call from there. It’s too late in the game for writing now. You gotta call. They will most likely be voting on this today or this weekend.
Our only other hope is that because the House version and the Senate version of this legislation aren’t the same, this will likely end up in a conference committee of the two branches of Congress. Here they can hash out the differences before it’s sent to the President, which means funding could be restored since it’s in the House version. I don’t understand all the rules and semantics of conference committees, but there is still hope there.
I don’t know what to say beyond that. Get busy people. As usual, it’s up to us.
by Tim on January 28, 2009
Today the U.S. House of Representatives passed HR 1, The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 – otherwise known as the Stimulus Package – by a vote of 244-188. Unless I completely missed something, all the disabilities-related provisions survived and were passed along with everything else. Yay!
Among other funding provisions in the legislation, some highlights are:
- $13 billion (with a ‘b’!) for the IDEA State Grant Program
- $600 million for Early Intervention
- $300 million for teachers in general
- $20 billion for school renovations and modernization
- $500 million for state grants for construction and rehab of facilities that help persons with disabilities prepare for gainful employment
- $200 million to assist people with disabilities to live in their communities
- $2.1 billion for Head Start
- $2 billion for Child Care Development Block Grants
- Billions for Medicaid, which is getting crushed under the weight of everyone now unemployed – including parents of special needs kids who have lost their jobs and have had to fall back on Medicaid to have any chance of affording their children’s treatments and therapies.
- Extension of unemployment benefits up to 33 weeks
and much more.
I am under no illusion that any of this is free money. However, people need to differentiate between government spending that invests in people, jobs, resuscitating the economy, and other things that bring a big return for each dollar spent vs. government spending that is like flushing money down the drain, like millions spent on research studies that conclude that oxygen really is good for America’s cows.
I don’t know everything that’s in this legislation, but I do know that the above provisions and many others are about investing in our children’s future – regardless of their abilities – and helping people who struggle to develop the skills needed for gainful employment realize that dream.
End of soapbox. Now go start writing your Senators. I put some tips in my previous action alert.
So far, the above provisions are largely – if not entirely – intact in the Senate version. However, things can change, and this is by no means an easy road for this legislation. Write your Senators even if you think they’ll certainly vote for it or against it. They need to hear our voices!
Thanks for your efforts so far. Keep up the good work!
If anyone has additional information, please post it in the comments.
