Saturday, April 07, 2012

Well Aware: Recently, my son was offered the opportunity to apply for two college scholarships for students with autism. Very nice of folks to think of him. Only one problem: autism is not his diagnosis. A little worrisome that school personnel who should be familiar with his records don't know that, but also, a little frustrating that autism scholarships seem to be where it's at. I've looked around for FASD scholarships and come up empty. Nor does his college have a special buddy program for students without autism, as it has for students with. Not that I begrudge kids with autism their college assistance. It's just that autism awareness seems to come at the expense of awareness of anything else. I think of it every time I pay for my son's speech therapy, knowing that if he had autism, the state would insist our insurance cover it. And I think of it every time someone reacts to recent statistics about a rise in autism with something like, "Well, now we really need to step up our demand for services!" Please, leave some for the rest of us, willya?

No comments: