I’ve been connecting with so many new Autism or Special Needs parents lately. While this is such a cool thing for me because connecting with others in a similar circumstance is a positive thing.

At the same time, it’s heartbreaking because there are so many people out there who are isolated, scared, overwhelmed and feeling hopeless.

What’s become clear is that, based on my personal experience, as well as interactions with parents from all over the globe, there isn’t enough support, services, understanding or even compassion. Frankly, it’s not even almost enough.

[clickToTweet tweet=”The #Truth about #Autism that the world needs to understand. @hollyrpeete @autismsociety” quote=”When someone with Autism turns 18 years of age, there isn’t some magical fairy that comes along and removes all the challenges they’ve faced up until that point in their lives. Many if not most of those challenges are life-long in nature and these people need help. – Rob Gorski “]

Somethings wrong when the fastest growing childhood developmental disability in the world doesn’t have some national/international infrastructure that directly helps families seek out and obtain early intervention services. There’s something wrong when parents burn out because raising a child with Autism is 25/8/366 (sometimes for the rest of a parent’s natural life) and things like respite are not available or affordable to everyone.

There’s something seriously wrong with a society that seemingly abandons kids with Autism once they cross that arbitrary age of 18 and enter into adulthood.

When someone with Autism turns 18 years of age, there isn’t some magical fairy that comes along and removes all the challenges they’ve faced up until that point in their lives. Many if not most of those challenges are life-long in nature and these people need help. Things like housing, employment, and support services are almost nonexistent in some cases.

That’s a travesty.

These aren’t isolated incidents either. These issues cross local, state, national and international borders. I have readers in almost every country around the world, and there are common threads in everyone’s story.

The point is, these problems are universal. Sure, some places are better equipped than others. Some people are blessed to live in places where services may be widely available, but this by no means represents the whole of the worldwide Autism community.

I’ve gotten away from really sharing my thoughts on things like this but hearing all these stories has helped me remember that I have a voice that carries weight in this community. I want to focus more on speaking about things that need to be spoken about.

Are there issues that you are concerned about or that impact your family directly? Please take a minute and share the things that concern you in regards to being an Autism parent or a person with Autism.

I’m happy to publish guest posts and help you be heard by the community. We’re all in this together and if there’s anything in the world worth coming together for, it’s our children.

Let me know how I can help.