One Of THOSE Parents
When I was a resident I would see parents of severely disabled kids come through our clinics. Wheelchairs or walkers. Or severely MR (that's what we called it then, instead of ID.). I'm sure some of those kids had autism, even though that word wasn't really on my radar then. But I never really wondered about their personal lives. How were their marriages? How often did/could they have sex? Did they ever get a weekend alone? Did they have friends? Did they have friends that 'got it?'. How did they handle thoughts and worries about the future? Did they ever wonder if they would have a life that didn't involve changing diapers and feeding tubes and fighting the government for new wheelchairs and appropriate placements? How much guilt did they have about their inability to fix things? Or for their part in causing their child's disability? How many 'What ifs' did they have? How did they handle ignorant schmucks like me who didn't have a c...