Safety in the Community

In the past two weeks, I have heard two complete horror stories about two different individuals with autism.  One is right in our own backyard.  A little girl, age 7, died in her bedroom while her apartment was burning down.  Her parents could not get to her in time.  She had autism.  Our community mourns this little girl who not only was in our local community but also a part of my autism community. 

Last week, I heard a story of a young man, age 20, who lives in California.  His parents had put him in a group home for the developmentally disabled population.  The group home was not watching him carefully and he wandered off.  He did not have language and wandered onto a major freeway.  There, he was hit by a truck and now is in a coma fighting for his life.

In my own home, I have two children with delays.  Our oldest, Curly, is nonverbal and does not always respond to verbal commands.  She wanders away from us whenever we let go of her hand.  She will walk into streets of traffic without even thinking about the consequences.  She will not respond to a simple, "Stop" or "No" and sometimes to her own name.  She could not tell you where she lives or who to call to help her. 

In our home, safety is a major concern.  We have a security door that leads to our street so that she can not run out without us knowing.  We have a fenced in yard so she can play without running into traffic.  We have a gate on her bedroom door so when she wakes up at night, she will not go downstairs and get into kitchen knives.  When we are out in public, one of us always has a hand on her at all times.  Her safety is on our brains, day and night.

One day this past school year, I got a call that Abigail had snuck out of an open gate on the playground at school.  Her teachers had got to her before she could get to a busy street and a full parking lot.  I will forever be grateful to her teachers for this.  I worry about her getting away and not being able to tell someone who she is and why she is lost.  I will always have this worry. 

I feel for all those other parents who have this same worry.  My heart goes out to the above families of the two individuals with autism.  Unfortunately, these stories will continue.  These kids turn into adults that can not make decisions for themselves.  We, as a community, need to get together and provide a neighborhood that will watch out for these kids and adults. 

I guarantee there is an autistic child or adult in your neighborhood who requires additional safety.  Look out for them.  Don't turn away and let another individual with special needs be harmed because we as a community were not equipped to handle them being in our community.