About Me

I am the proud mother of 6 children. 5 of our children have autism. We do not feel our world has ended, but just begun. We do not chelate, intervene biochemically, give shots of any kind, practice ABA, etc. We treat them as we treat any humanbeing. We treat them with kindness and respect and expect the same from them. They are exceptional children.

Monday, March 22, 2010

PERMANENTLY DISABLED...

I took my son Kiernan, 9 as of Saturday....to his biannual Pediatric Neurologist appointment.
Kiernan was in a great mood and even though we had to park very far away...he followed
every direction given to him
When the doctor saw him he said..."Oh, my...he is in such a good mood, let's go ahead and
take his blood pressure"..
You see..usually, Kiernan does not like that little bit of pressure put on his arm.

Prior to going to our appointment, I had printed out an application for a disability placard and
license plates for Kiernan. He is so happy when we go shopping that sometimes he jolts out
into the traffic...I thought it would not hurt to ask so we could park closer for him...

The application stated "Permanent Disability" or "Temporary Disability"....

After reading the document...our doctor stated "this would be a Permanent Disability...
Autism is permanent..."

Of course...I had to open my big mouth...
I said,"According to Jenny McCarthy...Autism can be diagnosed , taken away, and then
re-diagnosed...depending on the "toxic overload (dontcha know ?)"..!!!

The great doctor said...."You know...she is not a scientist nor a physician, don't you?"
"The only reason they even print her is to sell the magazine"...!!

Did I tell you he was "BRILLIANT" ?

My children have a Permanent Disability....it is not a come and go diagnosis.
Any doctor that would actually diagnose Jenny McCarthy's son with Autism , un-diagnose him,
then re-diagnose him again (I guess depending on what book or television show she is selling) is not really a very reputable doctor after all, are they? I have my guess about what kind of DAmN doctor they are..., but there is no way in heck that a reputable doctor would diagnose a child with autism and then remove the label and then put the label back when it deemed necessary.

I accept my children's disabilities...
I know they have a long road ahead of them...
I will help them down every path that lies ahead for them...

In the Neurologist's office, while Kiernan and I waited, was a little girl. She was so tiny...maybe
18 months to 2 years old. She had a facial deformity and every one was staring at her.
She walked up to Kiernan, who was rocking in his chair....this little Angel touched his leg (she was aptly named Sunshine...you cannot make that up!!)...
Kiernan touched her face...
I said," Hey pretty girl...this is Kiernan"..
Her mother said, "thank you"....

Our children's disabilities may be permanent....

But, temporarily today, I saw two children who could care less that either one was permanently disabled in any way, shape, or form......

9 comments:

Adelaide Dupont said...

Love "Pretty Girl".

And that your Doctor saw the other "Pretty Girl" was there to sell magazines!

Larry Arnold PhD FRSA said...

There you go (and the form for that matter) confusing impairment with it's consequences disability.

An impairment may or may not be permanent - Autism currently is -

But disability is variable, indeed the issue of a car permit is an accomodation in order to mitigate disability.

That particular disability in itself will not be life long, the circumstances will vary, and other accomodations mitigate a current need (hopefully)

VAB said...

I evaluate labels in terms of their utility, so I don't see it as necessarily a bad thing for a doctor to grant a certain label and then grant the removal of that label, if doing so is in the best interest of their patient. I think that the well being of the individual trumps academic rigor in this case. For example, when our pediatrician grant our guy disabled status he made it clear that, if for any reason our guy decided that he didn't want that legal status down the road, he would be happy to rescind it and, likewise, to remove the autism label. I suppose he might feel that labels should only be applied consensually.

The Horse Woman said...

I wondered about Jenny McCarthy, she said her son was COMPLETELY cured, I didn't see it with her son's behavior, they still accomidate his needs, he may not stim in public, but denying his issues may just hold him back. Even Temple Grandin notes that she has learned how to act socially appropriate. She has achieved so much in her field and in understanding what works for her, but if her parents and family ignored the fact she faced some obsticles she would have never overcome them. Jenny's son has made, in her eyes, significant improvement, which probably means that Evan is easier to manage. She showed a clip from a movie Evan was in, and all I saw was a little boy standing still. She made it sound, in the clips, that he had a speaking role and you'd never be able to tell he was ever diagnosed with autism. I agree with you, a problem-like dashing into the traffic may be a temporary one, hopefully so, but just because he stops running into traffic doesn't mean his autism is gone. I happen to have a certain diagnosis, while right now I do not fit the set criteria for the diagnosis still doesn't mean that I am not vulnerable under times of stress to feel the symptoms reoccur...doesn't mean I fit all the criteria, just that I realize my needs and vulnerabilities. Hopefully that all made sense...the thing is when we see the issues to help and work on it is easier to deal with them. Much love to each of your children and your family. Karla

Anonymous said...

It's stories like this that make me want to be with such children everyday. To think that two children could be so insightful and moving.

Alice Oakes said...

Hi :) I'm Alice. I have 3 autistic children (ages 6, 4 and 20 months). I read your interview on AOL health and started to follow your blog.

It is refreshing to see another mother who embraces autism.

My children are spread across the spectrum (my oldest did not say her first word until age 4, my middle child is very mildly autistic and my youngest is somewhere between them).

Our family believes strongly in early intervention and we provide our children with a lot of additional help through our local autism center, but we do not believe in biomedical approaches or environmental causes.

I have a blog on blogger as well (though I am relatively new to the blogging world)

:) nice to "meet" you!

Katrina said...

I think that Pretty Girl and your Sweet Boy are the way we all should be -- just accepting people for who they are, reaching out, and touching them.

Lyn said...

Awww, I love reading your blog entries. They make me feel warm and happy.

And Jenny McCarthy is NOT an autism expert. She's way too obsessed with a normality that doesn't exist.
This can be very harmful to folks with autism. Who have their own sort of normal.

Anonymous said...

"I thought it would not hurt to ask so we could park closer for him"

If your kid darts into traffic wouldnt it be smarter to park in the back/edge of the parking lot where there is less traffic than right up front where there are cars coming & going. Handicapped spcaes are suppose to be for perons who physically cant walk long distances & for autos needed extra space to load & unload wheelchairs.

We've had to go home & come back later because all the handicap parking spots are taken by able body people. My nurse even knows deaf people who park there becase they can. Thats bad as Jenny using ASD services for her undiagnosed son.