Autism: Where's the Support?

At this time there are no resources, the county social worker tells me. My son doesn't fit in any of the current residences, jobs programs or schools. There are not enough "waivers" available to provide appropriate housing or treatment for the deluge of young people like him. Worse, the community of parents dealing with autism has splintered over philosophical issues, such as causal factors and wholesale acceptance vs. finding a cure.

Twenty years from now, I hope that things will be different -- that we'll have learned to cooperate.

Today, more than 90 percent of fetuses tested and found to have Down syndrome are aborted. The power of their parent group is shrinking, as is the world's mosaic of human form.

I'd like to knock on my neighbors' door and ask them how it's done. Tell me the secret to sharing your home with a grown child, I would say, while allowing him the space to become an adult with his own life. Show me how to create unity among families. I may do this yet.

Someone has to talk to those wise parents before they die out, or I fear our children with autism will continue to wander through a world where they never fit.

Ann Bauer, a writer in Minnesota, is the author of the novel "A Wild Ride Up the Cupboards."