Sunday, January 27, 2008

Tragic Autism Reality In North Carolina - Autistic Child Dies After Going Missing

A casual reader of "autism" blogs on the internet might think that the most pressing autism problems were largely literary in nature, the right metaphor or nuance to use, whether it is proper to refer to "a person with autism" or "an autistic person". Attempts by concerned parents to discuss the hard realities of autism are often met with condemnation - until tragedy strikes as it has in Cabarrus County North Carolina where an autistic child died hours after going missing from a care center, only to be found near a pond and rushed to Intensive Care. I feel for the family members, and for the care givers at the center who were apparently very close to the boy.

I lived through a "gone missing" situation with Conor which thankfully ended well, in large part because of the efforts of a Good Samaritan who took him into a nearby store, and away from the busy street he had wandered onto, but the intense fear and guilt I felt will always be with me. I can only imagine the grief of those who loved the unfortunate child in Cabarrus County for whom things ended so badly.

The world needs autism treatments and cures, so that all children with autism have the opportunity to grow into adults and live as full a life as possible.

1 comment:

Katie said...

I agree with you wholeheartedly (except for the "cure" part, but you know that already).

I can't imagine what his family is thinking right now. They trusted these people to care for him and this happened.

And I'm glad your own situation ended nicely. The world needs more good samaritans (I am thinking about doing it myself).