United States

Cliff is a high functioning autistic. Our best friends have 5 kids. Two of them are autistic, with different levels of autism. The oldest autistic child is high functioning, but he will never be able to be by himself nor will the younger one. But, Sean, the older, can do a lot for himself. Every time we go over to their house he comes up to us and says nice to see you again. He used to always say nice to meet you. The younger, Kevin, regresses every time he goes back to school after summer. By the end of summer Eileen has gotten him to the point where he will quite a bit of things for himself, but with the rules in place for all kids, such as asking to go to the bathroom even, at home he regresses back to where she has to take him. She is thinking about taking him out of school again. Delaware has a horrible public autism program.

I sorta understand Cliff now that I know the background.

I give her major kudos for being able to deal with all of that. In fact I give any parent major kudos. I am never quite sure how to react to some things. All I can do is show support and ask what I can do to help in any given situation.

My autistic son is actually doing quite well. He just scares some people who don"t know or especially don"t understand autism. He"a physical marvel, about 240 lbs of muscle, and brutally handsome. When we eat at a restaurant he gets flirted with frequently by the waitresses. Because he doesn"t talk they think he"s ignoring their advances. About six years ago we tried a trial residency at one of the premier state institutions that cares for handicapped people. After about four days they told us to come get him because they had nobody on their staff who was physically able to control him. This is at the top care facility anywhere in the area. My son won"t ever hurt anybody, but can really hurt himself. He can do some significant head banging and one time had to be rushed to the hospital. A few other times the school where he was attending had to call the cops on him. It took three BIG cops to hold him. 99.9% of the time he"s a pleasure to be around. It"s just that very few times when he wasn"t that got him (and us) in trouble with the authorities. For those who have never had to deal with an autistic person I can tell you that one of the hardest things to deal with is their extreme obsessive-compulsive behavior. God forbid if we sit down at the restaurant and you move the salt shaker. We used to take all the time to a particular Denny"s when he was young. His teacher asked us where he liked to eat and we told her Denny"s. The next day she took him to Denny"s, the WRONG Denny"s. He had an uncontrollable fit and they had to leave the restaurant. She couldn"t understand why until I found out it was a different Denny"s. If my son were "normal" I guarantee right now he"d either be a world class wrestler or a linebacker for the Chiefs (they could probably use him NOW anyway). I"ve never met anybody pound for pound as strong as him and he doesn"t lift weights. The teachers in high school wouldn"t let him try out for wrestling, they said he would get hurt. What a joke! One thing my son does love is music. He"s always enjoyed my being in a band. He gets real excited especially when we play some of the originals. I have no idea if he"ll ever be able to do any kind of job. Unless they come up with a cure of some kind he"ll always need some kind of state aid (vote for Obama). Later...

My autistic son is actually doing quite well. He just scares some people who don"t know or especially don"t understand autism. He"a physical marvel, about 240 lbs of muscle, and brutally handsome. When we eat at a restaurant he gets flirted with frequently by the waitresses. Because he doesn"t talk they think he"s ignoring their advances. About six years ago we tried a trial residency at one of the premier state institutions that cares for handicapped people. After about four days they told us to come get him because they had nobody on their staff who was physically able to control him. This is at the top care facility anywhere in the area. My son won"t ever hurt anybody, but can really hurt himself. He can do some significant head banging and one time had to be rushed to the hospital. A few other times the school where he was attending had to call the cops on him. It took three BIG cops to hold him. 99.9% of the time he"s a pleasure to be around. It"s just that very few times when he wasn"t that got him (and us) in trouble with the authorities. For those who have never had to deal with an autistic person I can tell you that one of the hardest things to deal with is their extreme obsessive-compulsive behavior. God forbid if we sit down at the restaurant and you move the salt shaker. We used to take all the time to a particular Denny"s when he was young. His teacher asked us where he liked to eat and we told her Denny"s. The next day she took him to Denny"s, the WRONG Denny"s. He had an uncontrollable fit and they had to leave the restaurant. She couldn"t understand why until I found out it was a different Denny"s. If my son were "normal" I guarantee right now he"d either be a world class wrestler or a linebacker for the Chiefs (they could probably use him NOW anyway). I"ve never met anybody pound for pound as strong as him and he doesn"t lift weights. The teachers in high school wouldn"t let him try out for wrestling, they said he would get hurt. What a joke! One thing my son does love is music. He"s always enjoyed my being in a band. He gets real excited especially when we play some of the originals. I have no idea if he"ll ever be able to do any kind of job. Unless they come up with a cure of some kind he"ll always need some kind of state aid (vote for Obama). Later...

That was my over generalization of autisim (exposed to me via television) until I encountered Clifford.

Gee, I guess the dumbassed RN is still the F'n bad guy. You cant hide behind socalist labels from reality no matter how special your needs are.
Reality IS, it's not some cute TV show. If your going to swim in the big water youd best know how to deal with the sharks, on you own.
Pandering does no justice nor provides assist to those who have "special needs". We all learn at the school of hard knocks faster than any place else. Protecting him is not doing him any favors. Just slowing the learning process.
Your hearts in the right place I am sure. Perhaps mine is a bit black from years of watching fawning parents hold their children back when I worked in Pedi.
Just my two cents.

I think what cliff was trying to say basically equates to:

hi. i have no friends. i need a couch to sleep on and i have no money so ill be bumming smokes and beer from whoever you are for the rest of eternity and there is absolutely no chance of getting rid of me. im a mediocre musician playing sh*t everyone has heard from the radio a billion times, but youll be forced to jam with me because of your guilty conscience. go god!
xoxo