In Which I email the Guv

Dear Governor Brown: As a parent of a child diagnosed with Autistic Spectrum Disorder I am asking for your help in signing sb 946 into law.

I am letting you know that our family has lost half its income, as I had to leave my job to help cope with the therapies, meetings, research, and paperwork involved with getting our son the help he needed. We are feeling the crushing financial stress of managing more needs on less money, with less services available to us because schools and regional centers are also trying to operate on severely reduced incomes that keep losing ground even as the needs of the families rise. All this in the midst of a recession and rising prices. We need help financially and hope that this bill can be the start of better partnerships with insurers and the government so that families do not have to bear the brunt of the costs in dealing with a rising national epidemic and shrinking income.

Additionally, I have sought help from our HMO, and tried working with them to see if they could help supplement some of the services needed by our son, with discouragingly little success. The main reason I find for this is not the front liner providers. Indeed, they have tried very hard to help us. Their hands are tied by the industry. I am hoping very much that the passage of this bill can begin to reform this trend.

Finally, I hope you pass sb 946 by the October 9th deadline, because we are all facing physiological deadlines with our children that we cannot change -- namely the fact that a human brain is much more adaptable up to age 3, and thereafter begins to drop off in its pliability. The  earlier interventions start with a child on the autism spectrum, the better the treatments work. They also do not have to be continued for as long, because the adaptation is easier to facilitate the younger the child.

I know our state is in a huge financial mess. I ask that you not sacrifice the health of the next few generations to effect a quick fix. I ask that you consider that, while there may be some increased costs up front, the savings against having to provide future, costlier, and more pervasive services to a fast-growing segment of the population are overwhelming, and the well-being of our society so much the better.

What I and other families are asking for is help, so that we can make better partnerships NOW so our children can live lives that are more independent and self-sufficient.

Yours most sincerely, James' Mom

(okay, I used my real name, but that's how I felt)

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