Sunday, September 24, 2006

Something to Think About

I read an article on Autism Web about Social Security benefits and autism. Autism alone might break the Social Security system, never the baby boomers. What's going to happen when one out of 166 eighteen year olds claims Social Security disability benefits for the rest of their lives? Autism qualifies one for disability but I don't think our gov't is going to be prepared for the wave of autistic individuals it's going to face in less than 15 years. We're going to, as a nation, be responsible for taking care of all these individuals for the rest of their lives. Do you think there's going to be enough group homes for them all? Probably not. Enough sheltered workshops? Autism is 5 times more common than Down's Syndrome. You'd think the gov't would be trying to figure out how to stop autism and for heaven's sake, giving the children who already have it the very best, most intensive therapy and interventional education it can so that they don't have to support the kid for the next 70+ years of their life!!!

1 comment:

Kat said...

I spend so much time thinking about today that I hadn't considered the future consequences quite like this. Wow. Staggering. Good post.

About Me

My photo
I'm a writer, calligrapher, bookseller, wife and mother to three teenagers.