Getty Images
I’m Sending My Autistic Son to School: Here Is Why
Since coronavirus entered the hemisphere, I have been walking a tight rope when it comes to my child’s special needs. The first two months of the COVID shutdown, my four-year-old son regressed in severe extremities. Within weeks of quarantine, he ended up in the hospital, was diagnosed with a compulsive disorder, and I was labeled by the very person I chose to advocate for him a failure as a mother (this is another story, and this person has since been replaced). Never mind, he is on the ASD spectrum, and the doctors (who were saints) explained how his compulsion led us to the hospital. It was on me, not my husband, who also parents our children. The mother is the one who is expected to be the ‘super’ parent. I have now labeled this time as one of the roughest periods of my life. And I’m not alone. Stat news recently shared that “Years ago, a University of Wisconsin-Madison study showed that autism mothers experience levels of stress comparable to those of combat soldiers — and that’s without a global pandemic.” Yikes.
