In Support...

The Autism community has lost three angels, who so quickly sprang from their homes to explore their world.

At times like these, you see the true nature of the digital world. There has been digital trolls using the stories for their own greed. Manipulating the struggles of the community into ways of generating money making clicks for themselves.

As my Mother has tried to teach me, God will get take care of the vengeance in this matter.

Before you yell at the TV at these parents, let me show you a section of the Autism Wandering Alerts Response Education website (www.awaare.org)

According to data released in April 2011 by the Interactive Autism Network (IAN) through the Kennedy Krieger Institute (KKI):

• Roughly half, or 49%, of children with a autism attempt to elope from a safe environment, a rate nearly four times higher than their unaffected siblings
• More than one third of children with autism who wander/elope are never or rarely able to communicate their name, address, or phone number
• Two in three parents of elopers reported their missing children had a “close call” with a traffic injury
• 32% of parents reported a “close call” with a possible drowning
• Children with ASD are eight times more likely to elope between the ages of 7 and 10 than their typically-developing siblings
• Half of families with elopers report they had never received advice or guidance about elopement from a professional

In 2012, the National Autism Association found that from 2009 to 2011, accidental drowning accounted for 91% total U.S. deaths reported in children with autism subsequent to wandering, and that 23% of total wandering-related deaths occurred while the child was in the care of someone other than a parent. 

At times like this, it's easy for my parents to sit on their couches and say, "How could they let this happen? Didn't they know?"

The parents of these three children have been living lives you cannot begin to comprehend. These parents are protectors, providers, adovcates, AND parents. Their entire lives are lived in locked down, in the attempt to prevent such tradegies.

This is not a time for judgement, it is a time for compassion. It is time for us all to gather around these families in support.

On behalf of the parents of the spectrum in Central Oregon, all these families are in our thoughts.