Keeping Autistic Children Safe (VIDEO)
Last week, a little boy, who is autistic and nonverbal, died. The story rocked the world of every parent who has a child with special needs. I shared a few updates as it was unfolding and was saddened to see the hate that emerged. Some comments were curious. Many were confused how this could happen. And everyone was heartbroken.
I want you to know I know nothing more than you do. I know what I see on the news. That is it. But what I do know is the seriousness of keeping my severely autistic and nonverbal son safe when he seems to crave danger, water, traffic, trains, eloping and running away. It haunts me at times. So badly in fact, that I have spent nights lying awake wondering how I am going to keep him safe when he is 20, 30 and even 50. It’s gotten so bad that I refuse to take him anywhere downtown near metro transit or near water.
I also can’t take him anywhere alone. He is fast. He is sneaky. He has no concept of danger or safety. And at times, the pressure scares me more than I can put into words. If he got away from me. If I’m not always ‘on.’ If I look away for a second. If we forget to lock a door.
Until you live it you will never understand. But it is my mission to share our world. Here is our take on severe autism and safety.
I am so sorry Maddox. Every time I see your face I think about my vulnerable little boy. My heart is with you and especially your family in this tragic time.
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Thank you for giving much needed awareness about how anxiety inducing the danger we face as parents can be. And how much MORE anxiety a parent of a special needs child is. My NT 4 yr old daughter was on a mini vacation with us with my mother three kids in a cabin in the woods and I couldn’t sleep at night bc I was so worried she was going to wander out the door into the lake. We weren’t even on the lake! I was so scared bc we usually stay on the lake but I had PTSD from an incident with my ASD son. He never thankfully wandered into a lake, but he had prior to this vacation wandered away from me at a zoo and it was the scariest moment of my life. (I’m not the mother of the boy who was found in the gorilla cage- that story came out later) But I wasn’t afraid of kidnapping , I was in complete and I mean complete and utter panic he was going to wander into an animal enclosure containing a bear or cheetah or alligator, all of which could easily have happened given how open these cages were. I think it was the only moment I had a complete shut down and my nervous system took over every action I made. We found him I am grateful to say but not without it causing mental damage on me and I’m sure shaving years off my life.
That might sound dramatic… until you live it. I do not judge other parents for baby backpacks or reclusion’s in their homes, and I hope enough awareness will bring other people/parents to a non judgemtntal place having to live through it.