Supports for Our Kids with Autism
I was told this story from a friend who gave me permission to repeat it here.
What is the story?
My friend’s fifteen-year-old son has autism. He is in a community integration program where a facilitator comes to their home and takes her son out on a community visit to a planned, local location. This program helps to teach a teenager with autism behaviors that relate to being out in the community.
A few weeks ago, her son had a scheduled community integration visit.
The vendor sent a new facilitator.
The mom was informed about the new facilitator and met with the person before the community visit.
In other words, not only did the mom meet the new facilitator but they discussed where the facilitator planned to take her son and how the facilitator would approach a few targeted goals for her son’s community integration program.
Her son is vaccinated. So is her entire family.
The mom did not discuss the vaccine status with the new facilitator before he left with her son.
She assumed.
What did she assume?
That the facilitator was vaccinated.
Because…
She assumed the vendor would not send out an unvaccinated facilitator to travel in a car (be in close contact) with her son.
Yes, her son is vaccinated.
However, that is far from the point.
The mom wants her son to be as safe as possible when in the facilitator’s motor vehicle, this includes the person’s ability to drive the car as well as a person who is protected against a potentially deadly virus.
Breakthrough cases have occurred (where a vaxxed has gotten Covid).
She assumed.
In other words, she assumed just like any autism parent would in that situation.
What happened?
The facilitator was not vaccinated. Not only that, the facilitator had the nerve to announce his political reasons for not being vaccinated. “I’m a truther.”
Shame on that facilitator.
More to the point, shame on that vendor.
How dare they send out an unvaccinated facilitator to be in close contact with a client.
What did the mom do?
Informed the facilitator he will no longer be allowed to work with her son.
After that, she called the vendor.
- Did you know your facilitator wasn’t vaccinated?
- How could you send an unvaccinated facilitator to work with children?
- In addition, do you know the facilitator discussed (to the child in the car and to the mom later) his political ideas?
- The mom reported that her child (a teenager with autism) is easily influenced by the ideas of other people.
What did the vendor say to the mom?
No, they didn’t know the vaccine status of their facilitator.
No, they didn’t know he would discuss his politics.
Therefore, they didn’t properly screen the person.
THIS IS A HUGE PROBLEM.
Shame on the vendor.
What does it all mean?
Here comes my rant… FYI, this didn’t even happen to my child, yet I’m angry enough to write about it (my friend knows me, she knew I’d be angry).
HOW DARE THEY!
THE VENDOR IGNORE THE VACCINE STATUS OF A FACILITATOR!
ABOVE ALL… THIS IS A PANDEMIC!
I don’t care for the facilitator (in regards to his politics), but the mom handled it like a pro (advocate momma bear). “Go. You will not be with my son again.”
That’s all you can do in the moment.
Why the rant?
My rant centers around the vendor.
This is a huge problem that is their fault. They dropped the ball.
And, they can’t drop this type of ball in a pandemic!
The bigger picture…
I hate the politics around the masks and the vaccine because there SHOULD BE NO POLITICS!
I don’t get it.
Your “personal choice/personal freedom” is a political position crafted by the extreme right. The extreme right in the United States made mask wearing and vaccines political.
IN A PANDEMIC.
HOW AWFUL IS THAT?
“We won’t take a vaccine. We’re anti-vax.” (Thanks Jenny McCarthy).
Yeah, but you’ll eat McDonalds. Or, you’ll drink seven Diet Coke’s a day.
“You can’t make us wear a mask inside a grocery store.”
But, you agree to wear a shirt and shoes?
That’s okay, but a mask is against your personal beliefs and/or freedoms?
The worse thing I see right now are the unvaxxed with Covid in hospitals.
Honestly, I wouldn’t mind seeing hospitals turn them away.
If I show up with a heart attack…I MIGHT NOT BE ADMITTED.
The un-vaxxed don’t want a vaccine, but now hospitals have to take them when they get Covid?
Why? What happened to their personal freedoms? They are the “we know better than science” folks.
Now, you need medical science to save your life?
MAKES NO SENSE!
The bottom line to my rant…
These ideas are crazy. They’re killing people. And, they’re wrong.
Therefore, I will circle back to the point of this blog…
I cannot believe an autism vendor doesn’t make sure ALL OF THEIR FACILITATORS ARE VACCINATED. That vendor knows those facilitators are AROUND CHILDREN!
That’s wrong, and dangerous.
This is a pandemic and I simply want reasonable acknowledgement that a pandemic can kill.
Where’s your personal freedom when you’re dead?
We have to be safe. Our kids have to be safe.
Your personal choices are not more important than the lives of others. Go ahead and go to McDonald’s. Just get a vaccine so we can stop this pandemic already.
Winding down the rant…
In conclusion, your personal freedom does not include being unvaccinated around my child. In a car. Around the community. Unknown to the parent.
Ever.
That’s my reasonable, educated, informed, and sensible…. Personal…Choice.
In other words, I care about others.
I care so much about my friend’s son that I wrote this blog.
I care to write about a vendor that is clumsy, uninformed, and liable if something had happened.
Shame on them.
And, shame on you–the unvaxxed.
Rant finished.
More on Kimberly Kaplan:
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Twitter: tipsautismmom
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