Yikes--how long has it been?

About 8 months if my math is correct. I happened to look around, & have sadly found that a lot of the other bloggers who have commented on here & I'd read, are now gone (perhaps changed blog or user id's??). Anyway, that is sad. But, I understand. I needed a break. Around the time I last blogged, my daughter was having an increasingly more difficult time with meltdowns, and we had a school evaluation, and just life with kids, dogs, etc. Then came summer, which was wonderful, but also busy. And, all the while, we were in IEP mode, need I say more? I've got lots to gripe about. Lots indeed.

While I was absent from here, I have been to 2 message boards for autism. I stayed neutral early on, hoping to get support there. And I did. Lately, however, views which I am adamantly opposed to have been aired out repeatedly. So, I have spoken up. After weeks of this back & forth, honestly, my head hurts. I'll bitch on that a bit too I imagine in the coming entries. This whole autism thing--how us parents treat each other--is absurd at best.

I get more & more depressed when I think of the world my daughter will be an adult in. At this rate, it will be rather bleak & I can only hope to have found a magic immortality pill by then. People suck, in general. And the campaigns against autistic people continue, and very few are doing a damn thing for the adult autistic population. I suppose they're just hanging on that hopefully a "cure" will be found, and that God willing, this "cure" would be "successful" for my child, and then, thankfully they won't have to deal with her at age 21, 30, 45... Makes me just go nuts when I think about it. All the dollars being pissed away at finding some supposed cure--meanwhile how many children on the spectrum become adults on the spectrum each day? I'd love to see that stat. Then I'd love to see what is available to them--job training, life skills support, safe independent living arrangements, etc. I'd love to see the dollar amount going into this...then stack it against the "searching for a cure" funds that Autism Speaks, DAN!, and whoever else is on this mission to "stomp out" autism is using.

Well, this was going to be a short "I'm still alive" entry... So much for that. I've got plenty more to rant & rave on...and also to embrace & brag about. Stay tuned.