Over the years, I’ve tried to document the many things we deal with as a special needs family. It’s important to me that I help to educate the public because there will come a time where I will no longer be here and I take a small comfort in the knowledge that my efforts today might make the world a more forgiving, understanding and compassionate place for my kids.

That being said, I wanted to share this video I shot a few years ago. It shows Gavin, who’s living with Schizophrenia, talking on an imaginary phone.

This video is approaching 1,000,000 views and one of the more frustrating comments I see in regards to this particular video is that he doesn’t have Schizophrenia, he just has an active imagination. 

The reality is that Gavin is Schizophrenic and there isn’t anything that’s going to change that. He lives in a world where he sees, hears and experiences things that only he can see. They’re as real to him as anything else is to me or you.

No one likes to think that a young person can suffer from something like this but it happens. Thankfully, it doesn’t happen too often and childhood Schizophrenia is rare. That doesn’t change the reality for Gavin though.

I don’t like the fact that he’s Schizophrenic because it has such a profound impact on his life and not in a good way. I don’t like that he can’t tell the difference between what’s real and what he sees and hears. It’s not fair that he has to deal with this, especially at such a young and when he already has more than his fair share of challenges in life.

Pretending this is something else, doesn’t do anyone any good. If we refused to believe Gavin was dealing with Schizophrenia, he wouldn’t be getting the help he needs to navigate life with that particular diagnosis. This isn’t about what makes you or I comfortable. It’s about raising awareness for something that is often misunderstood, especially when it comes to young people like Gavin.

https://youtu.be/JHaZjkAOFf

Sharing these videos has proven to be a positive thing. We’ve actually been able to connect with other people living with Schizophrenia and they help us to better understand how to help him.

I know in many ways, Gavin is of limited capacity and doesn’t always understand the consequences of things. That being said, he likes sharing things like this because it helps others. One of his favorite things to share is in regards to his missions he goes on.

I’ve had so many people ask whether or not he writes these things down because his missions are really interesting to learn about. Anyway, the above video illustrates some of the things we experience with Gavin being Schizophrenic. It’s important to understand that this isn’t just him using his imagination. He truly thinks he’s talking on a portable communication device, to other members of his superhero team.