Why Rain Man Died This Christmas.

With the economy in a downward spiral and most families now living in poverty on a daily basis, Christmas has taken on a new image in America. Where families would have trees, parties and gifts, our Christmas is replaced by having to attend large congregation halls, with limited to no Christmas dinner and relying on charities for presents. In many ways this Christmas is bringing out the best in people but it is unable to accommodate the 1 in 91 children with Autism in America who are forced to live in poverty each and everyday of their lives.

Children with Autism can not be expected to endure the red tape of charity. Charity is specifically outside of the child with Autism reach especially children who have medical complexities which usually require special medical interventions throughout the day.

This is not a slight to the charities and individuals preparing these events. They are attempting to help the masses and Autism awareness is so low that people are unaware of how to accommodate these children, Blame can squarely be placed at the feet of the department of health and human services who does so very little Autism awareness in this country that the majority of America associate Autism with the movie Rain Man. The movie Rain Man minimizes the social impact of this disease on the children and families of this very real epidemic in our society. But even Rain Man with his savant abilities couldn’t make it through a charity event this year.

Inherent to the process of receiving charity is a bureaucratic tax. Charities require a socialization and compliance tax which children with Autism can’t pay. This is especially true of holiday charity events which are well intended but socially painful for children with Autism.

And it truly is a lack of public awareness and not the charities fault. If the government would educate or require charities to serve children with Autism and special medical needs according to their ability to participate in required bureaucracy then the charities would happily accommodate. But charities are under such huge duress trying to care for the masses that are living in abject poverty they can’t address the special needs population. And charities are segregated in their service provision models. For instance Toys for Tots only provides for needy families but not specifically for children with special needs. And special needs charities specifically provide for this population but they are completely under funded even though over 10% of the children in this country are now diagnosed with Autism.

So Rain Man can’t get a present from charity because he is unable to participate in a bureaucracy by definition of his very condition limits his abilities to succeed in social situations, The key to obtaining charity is socialization which all children with Autism suffer from poor socialization skills. This limits their ability to receive any charity. And finally in order to receive charity a family must have the time and ability to access said charity. In a situation where there is an autistic child involved and the child has medical complexities a four hour event in order to obtain a gift is impossible.

So Rain Man is excluded from the American Christmas in 2011. Rain Man has been excluded from so very much including being afford the public awareness program so his society understands his condition and doesn’t write him off as someday winning the lottery but ultimately needing the institutionalization. This is the job for the Health and Human Services Secretary and the President of the United States.

The level of Autism educational awareness drops significantly amongst the poverty. So children with Autism and their parents are constantly suffering from discrimination amongst the poor who are not educated and know absolutely nothing about Autism. Quite frankly it is not just the poor it is the entire country and even the President of the United States who I have not heard speak one word about on behalf of children with Autism in this country. And no one has any plans for funding these families so they can at least exist in a higher social order for which some humanity and understanding maybe shown to them. Families of children with Autism are being forced to live in substandard conditions in abject poverty because their government doesn’t have the courage, heart or strength to love its entire people. They can’t even be bothered to provide public education so this particular population can receive charity without having to participate in socialized events. Not that Ran Man even comes close to portraying the plight of children with Autism or their families but in the scheme that the smoke detector sounds and Rain Man has a fit depicts does provide a little insight into how exceptionally painful socialization is for children with Autism. So to require them to be social in order to obtain a charitable gift is in fact a form of cruelty and is outside of the reach of Rain Man.

We have been unable to obtain a gift for my son this holiday season despite all my best efforts to comply with all charitable functions. Today we sat in a gym for two hours with screening children and adults listening to a very loud sound system just trying to be social and obtain that one gift for my son. After two hours my son could bare the noise level no longer. I couldn’t take it either. It was extraordinarily loud. I notified the organizers of the charitable event and I had given them advance warning my son may not be able to fully participate in their organized activity. They were most gracious and generous.

I have mentioned before my son wishes to be President one day. I believe he wants to be Father to this country because he feels like this is a country of Fatherless people. And my son adored President Obama. He wanted to be so much like him and was certain President Obama’s heart was big enough to love all of his people especially children with Autism. As a parent I try not to say bad things about anyone in general or about people which my son admires. So I have not addressed President Obama’s policies towards children with Autism and medical complexities with my son. My son is sound enough to make his own decisions about people.

It about broke my heart to put my son through a social situation which was so painful for him only to have him walk away with nothing. When he came home he sat and read his presidents book. He studied and was even more determined to become president because my son is certain he can love all of the people in America. The question is will the people of America ever be able to love him?