Send them away!
Friday, March 4th, 2005 Dad reports:
Mom provided me this link from Wampum on Monday, the same day we were once again told that Tommy may need 24/7 care that could potentially be long term (ie. needs institutionalization for awhile). While we are not totally in disagreement we are not necessarily ready to take that step either. Tommy is making choices. We need to help him make better choices and these past 3 days he has.
In Note to friends, family and near acquaintances of PoAs on Wampum (in all its greatness) MB Williams writes:
It is your duty, no, your God-given right as the parent of a neurologically perfect child (or at least the gleam in the eye of one) to bring [the parent of an autistic child] down to earth and behave sensibly, i.e., understand that the sooner they institutionalize their autistic child, the sooner they can get on with their lives.Well, don’t do it.
For those of us that are frequently beat down with the words of “give up” MB Williams’ writing is a nice morale booster to which I will return and re-read periodically. Does it mean that we should not get Tommy 24/7 care and help? I don’t have that answer yet. Since Tommy seems to be consciously making choices and more in touch with himself than we’ve ever seen him, if 24/7 care helped bring him around to being a functional, happy person faster and more completely than we can acheive then perhaps that is in his best interest. If we get him 24/7 care to help us, then we are being selfish rather than good parents.