Interesting post in the Seattle Times today. The title is _”Autism disrupts work and pay, article says”_ .
The article in question is a new study from Pediatrics:
<blockquote>An emerging body of work is showing the impact an autism diagnosis has on a family….<blockquote>….families with a child with ASD were 7 times more likely to report that child care problems affected employment than comparable families with typically developing children. These accommodations probably result in lower household income.</blockquote></blockquote>
Now, I’ll be upfront and say that I know those circumstances to be true. A combination of my own diagnosis (of manic depression) and my child’s diagnosis of severe autism with associated learning difficulties has made things very difficult at times. It is a simple truth that I cannot progress in my chosen career (I am a web developer) much past the stage I am at now because doing so means committing myself (excuse the pun) to a schedule of work I cannot possibly meet, given our home circumstances. A lot of my professional friends and colleagues who are about my age and are of a similar skill level to me are now either owning their own companies or heading up teams of designers.
But…is it right to say that autism is the disrupting influence? Obviously In my own life there are my own personal medical issues but even so, I do not think it is right to say that it is _this_ which is the disruptive influence.
It is a simple truth that much more is expected of workers of this generation. People of my parents age never had the work pressures we do now. Employees are expected to work ‘above and beyond’ if they want to progress. To work hours beyond – way beyond – their contracted hours, to never be ill, to keep holidays to a time that is non disruptive to the employer. We in the West have started to live to work rather than working to live.
For a family with a special needs child (of any age) it is simply not realistic that they can meet this expectation. And so we _do_ need to expect a less financially comfortable life.
But what is the disrupting influence? Is it autism? Is it manic depression? Is it Down’s Syndrome? Is it Cerebral Palsy? Is it any other physical or mental difference?
Or is it the demands of a society that is putting less and less stock on the family and more on work?
Left Brain Right Brain 
Children “disrupt work & play” period. As well, these children “probably [no doubt?!] result in lower household income”.
If parents aren’t willing to risk the reality of children, should they be having them?
Kev, the blog is in the Seattle PI (Post Intelligencer), not the Seattle Times.
It is still a two newspaper town.
Yes, I had had to leave work because my son had a seizure disorder. PLUS… he was not vaccinated against pertussis (because of the seizures), and this was at a time our county was having a pertussis epidemic.
If I wanted to continue working (engineer making a decent salary), I would have had to hire a nanny. The option of an infant care with other children was not safe or viable. I did the numbers and figured out that my net income after factoring nanny, transportation, and such would have been less than the nanny would take home!
So our income was sliced by almost half.
I survived. The son has survived. Even though at times I was transporting kids to five separate therapy appointment per week (oh, and that was when all three came down with chicken pox).
I also know of an eye doctor who quit work to deal with her more severely disabled child than mine.
None of us ever regret having the children. I have also learned lots, and have been spared being one of those annoying parents of perfect parents that I loath… and could have very well easily been. My younger kids have benefitted by my letting them be themselves.
But I also know that perfectly normal children disrupt work and play of their parents. My younger son has a group of friends whose parents have had to pay for and attend musical trips to New York City, Washington, DC and Europe… and that is just between last February and now (they are still in Europe).
“Or is it the demands of a society that is putting less and less stock on the family and more on work?”
Isn’t it more about where YOU put your stock and not where the company puts it’s stock? As far as I know, a company will rarely if ever reward you for being a good parent…
I can’t let the rationale of ‘kids cause disruptions anyway’ to stand though. Yes, they do, but the study compares apples to apples and finds ASD parents MORE hampered by their responsibilities.
We love our kids, we can get comfortable in our new lives; but the Jones’ are getting farther and farther ahead of us, we had to let go of the race a long time ago…
“We love our kids, we can get comfortable in our new lives; but the Jones’ are getting farther and farther ahead of us, we had to let go of the race a long time ago…”
look this is so true, when every bit of disposable income and income you don’t have goes into therapy sessions you can’t not slip financially. We did 2 years of intense therapies and it takes its toll but if someone told me I had to start it all over again I would.
There is very little help and no relief and I consider us to be lucky because of the support from friends and family, but we also never get to switch off we are forever in micro management mode keeping things on schedule and the routine in place.
I don’t regret not going back to work. I appreciate the funding mechanisms available in this province, which help with that choice. At the same time, without them, I still wouldn’t go back to work.
When you CHOOSE to have a child, it is your responsibility to raise that child as best you can. The “Jones” may afford more, but you know, kids still prefer to play with the boxes than the toys no matter what their parents income is.
Dh works long hours, and then his extras on top… the children deserve to have one parent available as much as possible. We chose to have them, it is our duty to raise them, with our without autism. And yes, they go to programs, camps, etc like all the other kids. They need a life too.
My gripe is living rural, that the assumption (school) is that you are uneducated white trash around here b/c I don’t work and we live on a farm. The PDD teacher (consult for the school) and I had that “go round” – and yes, I wrote “I am not uneducated white trash” in the email (#4 of the discussion) – last fall when I tried to set up a mtg with her. I got my meeting.
S.