StarOcean said:
Uhh... well first off dunno if my story will relate to the title due to how the story in your OP almost has nothing to do with autism. As for me, I deal with autistic people on a daily basis as it is my line of work. However my initial encounter with it was with my little sister who has it and a traumatic brain injury so ever since she was born I helped take care of her with my mother because my dad didn't believe in autism and then left when she became too difficult. I used the experience to start my journey in the medical field. I used it to land a job as a DSP (Direct Support Professional), a caregiver for the mentally and physically disabled. In my field you find that after a certain point (around when someone with autism or similar and/or worse issues turn about 25-30) they're given to facilities to be taken care of because of a variety of reasons but to boil it down: It's just difficult taking care of people with certain disabilities. I take care of those people. It's sad though because more often then not, they're put in the facilities or homes and their families never see them again. And because of the high turnover rate (we get paid shit and it's a hyper stressful job) it can be extremely difficult for the special needs people because DSP's are the only family they have left. So when one of us leaves it can be emotionally challenging for them. There's one person with mid-level autism I work with, he gets really upset when people leave and will ask where they are months after a co-worker has quit. But yeah, my responsiblities are mostly just taking care of them. I have to treat each a very different way though because they really are all different and require unique care taking in order to ensure they stay happy and healthy. Besides that, that is most of my experience with autism. The job is super demanding though so it's super hard to destress after work. Also, I volunteered to tutor special needs children, which included many with autism, for 2 years
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Thanks for sharing. This is an awesome insight. I never new about the age range that ended up in facilities, or about the turn over rate of support personnel and the way it affects the disabled. That is pretty unfortunate.
Good for you for doing what was right with your sister all this time and putting that knowledge to work for others in the same way. It's not an easy thing. I'm doing the same right now sort of. I'm working with kids the same age as mine who are also on the spectrum. I'm applying my knowledge to my work, and what I learn from work, I apply to my child.
How's your sister doing? She's lucky to have had someone by her like you were. I wish I could give my son a sibling but I'm too scared to do it with the same mom but I'm too scared to. I have a crazy theory that the longer two people stay together, the more chance that the love between them dies. Then if you have a kid in that situation the kid is born with the absence of love in their heart. Love is what gives us strength and confidence to fight through all obstacles. Without it, every challenge seems worse than it actually is. It's a metaphysical perspective but there's nothing wrong with that in my mind. Speaking of metaphysics, what's your chinese sign? Is it the year of the dog? Your post shows that you do a lot for other people and that is mainly a Dog trait..