Where I live in Ohio there is little to no autism awareness. Nothing was done or even mentioned for autism awareness month. There really isn't anything dedicated to autism at all. How do I fix that. We do have a charter school. Gavin goes there and it's amazing. There are no fundraisers or billboards. Autism needs everyone's attention and everyone's support. Does anyone have any ideas? Aside from sharing our story with as many people as possible, I don't really know what to do. I know there are more families out there like us but there is no communication. Do I form a support group or maybe an advocacy group? We have neither here. I know I would like to set up some type a local network providing people with…

Finally getting some sleep. LT

I need to ask you guys a favor. I have a poll to the right under my Gravatar about "Autism Speaks". I just want to get an idea about how the autism community feels about the organization. I hear lots of things but don't know if it's just a vocal minority. Thanks ahead of time for your help. If you can't find the poll here try this direct link. Here is the short link: http://poll.fm/1yumv please feel free to pass it around. Post it to your blog if you want to. I really want to know how the community feels. The more the merrier. LT

Marc, Not trying to single you out but your comment about the video inspired me to write the following. You have many great ideas and I want to thank you for having the courage to share them here. This started out as a reply to my friends comment but some took on a life of its own. Once again, great to hear from you. You make so many good points. I guess the video has been out a while now but it's new to me. What I don't get is the people on YouTube who oppose the video were saying things like "my child doesn't need cured" or "autism isn't a disease that needs cured". People were offended because autism was compared to cancer and aids. The comparison was in…

This is a very controversial video from "Autism Speaks". I'M BY NO MEANS ADVOCATING THIS VIDEO. I'm not sure how I feel about it. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDdcDlQVYtM] I guess I have mixed feelings. On one hand I think it makes a good point making autism out to be a predator of our kids. Because the truth is it acts that way. Some people effected by autism are very high functioning and successful. I hope that this video was focusing on those without a voice of their own. I don't think that they made demons out of autistic kids if you really listen. I think the narrator is supposed to be autism talking about what he has done, is doing or will do to our kids. The fact is that even the strongest…

Had a rough nights sleep last night. My back is bothering me to the point that sometimes I actually consider the surgery. However, I can still cope with it for now. EJ and ER both slept through the night for the first time is a while. EJ woke up at 4:30am and wouldn't go back to bed. The kids might be hanging with my parents today and G is going to spend the night. ER and I might have a very uncomfortable camp out on the living room floor again tonight. Lizze has to double her depakote today so we aren't sure how that's going to go. She has a doctors appt today at 3pm and we have to go grocery shopping. Maybe catch a nap later if we're lucky.…

Where to begin? I have been slacking a bit on posting mostly cause I've been in lots of pain and my computer needed to be shown who's boss. Lizze had an absolutely brilliant day. She got EJ and G appointments at the children's hospital. EJ goes later this month and G goes next month. She got a lot accomplished on the medical front today. Great job honey. I know she worked through a tremendous amount of pain today and I'm grateful for all she did. ER had another nightmare last night that ended with him and I downstairs on the living room couches. Not real comfortable for me but he felt better so..... EJ has been fighting us on wearing shirts. He can't seem to tolerate the seams. He totally…

Well ER just had a nightmare that we were all driving in the car and the wheels fell off and we crashed. He was pretty freaked out so now he's snuggling with us and going back to sleep. Thank you for sharing our lives. LT