Category Archives: autism

When the carer needs care

September 11, 2013   autism, Carers, disability

mum went and fell down the stairs

by

Wake up, eat, go out, come back, eat, play, sleep. Simple really.

And then mum went and fell down the stairs.

Kiss it better, put a plaster on it, don’t think about it and it will go away. Simple really.

Stop! Yes, you read that right: mum went and fell down the stairs. This isn’t a kiss it better situation. or a simple plaster affair. This is serious. This involved accident and emergency departments, a splint, bruising, pain killers and crutches. But it could have been so much more serious. And for that I am eternally thankful, despite the pain.

So what happens when the carer needs care?

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Mother of autistic boy who received hate-filled letter from angry neighbor telling her to 'euthanize' her son issues touching response

August 31, 2013   autism, Carers, disability, family

‘I wish people would be more understanding‘

Eloquent answer; Karla Begley, pictured here with her son Max in 2010, took to a blog about special needs children to deliver a response to a vile letter a neighbor had sent her complaining about the boy’s sounds

Karla Begley, 44, wrote letter published by a blog about special needs children responding to neighbor’s anonymous complaint
On August 16, Max Begley’s grandmother got a vile letter complaining about the noise the 13-year-old autistic boy was making
The self-described ‘pissed off mother’ who penned the letter suggested that Max be euthanized

By Daily Mail Reporter

PUBLISHED: 00:38, 30 August 2013 | UPDATED: 06:03, 30 August 2013

A Toronto mother who had received a shocking anonymous letter last week urging her to have her 13-year-old autistic son euthanized has issued a response in the form of a letter about the importance of tolerance.

Karla Begley and her family were left reeling after receiving a disturbing, hate-filled missive from a neighbor in Newcastle, Canada, informing her that the noise her special needs son, Max, was making while playing outside terrified her ‘normal’ children.

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Carers are the best kind of people. So why are they treated so disgracefully?

August 27, 2013   autism, Carers, disability, epilepsy, stigma

My brother’s carer had to leave, her minimum wage not enough to survive on. My brother is heartbroken. I’m furious

The Guardian,

Swimming carer

‘There is no training course in the world that can truly prepare you for becoming a carer: it’s something you either have or you don’t.’ Photograph: Gary Calton

We lost someone important to us this weekend. My mum rang me, crying from a hotel room, after Megan had said goodbye, and what a shame it was. She didn’t want to go. We didn’t want her to go either.

Megan was my younger brother’s carer. His autism and epilepsy means he needs round-the-clock assistance. Megan had split up with her boyfriend, and the minimum wage she was being paid was not enough for her to live alone – so she has to go away, to live with her parents. My brother will not understand this: he will just see that she is gone, and miss her. But we understand it. Having witnessed the work of a succession of carers while I was growing up, I not only noticed what an incredible, noble thing it is to devote your time to looking after someone more vulnerable than you, but also how little society gives a toss about it.

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