HURRICANE and KIDS W/ASD | Autism PDD
WHY I WAS SITTING HERE WATCHING MSNBC AND THE SCARY calls for evacuations in ALABAMA,MISS,AND WORSE LOUISIANA...in one report they said families standing outside for hours trying to get passed security clearance and the children waiting there w/parents were shaking and crying everytime the wind and rain came down harder they stood so close to there parents.NOW HOW THESE PARENTS IN THESE STATES AND ESP.LOUISIANA PREPARE A CHILD W/AUTISM THAT WE NEED TO GO TO SHELTER AND THESE KIDS WATCH TV ALL AGES SOME ASD KIDS ARE VERRRRRY SMART AND OBSESS OVER WEATHER CHNLS.A CATEGORY 5 IS HIGHEST TO HIT IN YEARS..THEY MAY NOT COME BACK TO THEIR HOUSES B/C THEYVE BEEN WIPED AWAY OR SEVERLY DAMAGED.These kids w/ASD ALL OVER THE RAINBOW ARE GOING TO HAVE A HARD TIME AND TO RELATE AT THIS MOMENT TO HOW THE MOMS AND DADS W/ALL THE STRESS OF just leaving their home doing alot of redirecting in a new shelter w/so MANNNNNNNNNNNY PEOPLE AROUND SOME KIDS W/SENSORY ISSUES,OR MEDS.,MISSING THERE DAILY STRUCT.ROUTINE,SEIZURES.. .PLEASE LETS ALL SAY A PRAYER FOR THESE PARENTS AND JUST KEEP THEM IN YOUR THOUGHTS!! WE ALL KNOW WE LIVE W/STRESS AND DEALING WITH ARE GREAT KIDS.BUT THESE PARENTS ARE AT RISK OF LOSING HOMES,UPSET CHILDREN,AND THE AFTERMATH HOW TO EXPLAIN AND HELP THERE KIDS THROUGH THIS TRAUMA..HOPE THEY HAVE LOTS OF ONSITE COUNSELORS...KEEP THESE PARENTS IN YOUR MINDS THE NEXT FEW DAYS..THANK YOU
Tammy
Thanks Cyndie, For reminding me of those families.I will keep them in my thoughts and prayers.And I hope all will be well there for those families.Thanks again cyndie for your kind heart.mom2carloDear Cyndie9404 - thank you for bringing this up. Ask any one who is from the South or Countries in Carribian and they will tell you hurricanes are scary enough for people who aren't affected by autism .
I, for one will be looking to give what support I can to any groups that I hear of that are going to try to help families who are dealing with children with special needs who have been affected by this hurricane and others.
Does anyone from Florida have a list of organizations that help with special needs families in situations like these - or those that offer post storm family counceling?
Florida isn't the one getting hit this time. It is Louisianna, Mississippi, and Alabama.
Tmmy
The Superdome roof is leaking http://www.cnn.com/2005/WEATHER/08/29/hurricane.katrina/inde x.htmlAWEFUL, I KNOW AND now biloxi,miss.,getting the brunt..AND THE SUPERDOME, LEAKS AND PART OF ROOFTOP RIPPED OFF.THESE POOR FAMILIES.,JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT YOU WERE SAFE,.I have been jumping from CNN N MSNBC,KEEPING TRACK.ALOT OF THE FAMILIES ARE VERY POOR CANT IMAGINE.IM WANDERING "GO FALCONS" IF YOU CONTACT YOUR LOCAL RED CROSS THEY CAN TELL YOU OR DIRECT TO HELP THESE PARENTS DEAL.Maybe a good idea is to give them this kind of info.THAT THERE NEEDS TO BE COUNSELORS FOR NORMAL FAMILIES ON TOP OF SPECIAL COUNSELORS TO ASSIST W/SPECIAL NEEDS KIDS....I WILL MEANWHILE SEND A EMAIL TO AUTISM SOCIETY OF AMERICA,MAIN UNIT telling them hopefully they can assist in this terrible time of need after this is all over..thanks all for KEEPING THESE PARENTS N CHILDREN IN YOUR THOUGHTS TODAY.ITS NOT OVER YET...NOW TORNADO WARNINGS...I appreciate all of the good questions and thoughts regarding hurricanes. i have lived in Florida all of my life. Last year I sleot on floor with my ds. I kept his rabbit in the housed(caged) and all of our comfort items. i also teach special ed. I teach my kids how to help the family prepare for the season. the worst part of the season is now, late fall. My kids/students are relieved that we were moved from last year's classroom. The wind blew the door off the hinges and soaked everything. Benjamin helps me prepare and is learning how to be safe and that storms do pass. there is still a fair amount of stress, but learning how to be proactive helps to take some of the edge off. We have talked about what forms a hurricane and there are people all around that care about us and will tell us when to move to safer ground and not wait. there are still too many people that wait until the last minute.I wanted to add that Emergency managment is always frustrated that people still don't take hurricanes seriously. I've seen the power of these storms and it feels llike we live in a warzone. Sometimes aid doesn't get to the poorests regions. We saw that in Arcadia. My sister's churdh led the way to getting supplies to the folks there. You can ask local denominations if they are trucking supplies/personnel to the most devastatedor poorest regions. the help would be appreciated. Janet
Cyndie THANK YOU, for bringing this up. Hopefully the families being affected will recover quickly.
Regarding organizations that MIGHT help with the families of autistic children I think contacting the Autism Society of America or the Red cross is a good idea. I would also suggest contacting Unlocking Autism at www.unlockingautism.org or their national call center at 866-366-3361. I know they have Reps all over the world who put together donation drives to help autistic families. They even did one when the Tsunami hit in the middle east. If you have any problems gettign through Contact Nancy Cale VP of Unlocking Autism at Nancale@aol.com, I believe the organization is located in Baton Rouge, Lousiana - so I don't know if they are being affected by the hurricane as I am not familuar with the area.
IM waiting to hear how my girlfriend is.she lives in Batonrouge,la.So i will sit here and wait for a email how they are.i was on line with her sister last nite she was on the phone yesteday when this horrific storm came n phones cut out.Its like TSUNAMI 2 EXCEPT HERE IN THE STATES,NOW I HOPE OTHER COUNTRIES CAN HELP HERE IN THE SOUTH THE WAY WE HELP EVERYONE OUT,ALL THOSE BILLIONS OF $$$$ GOIN OVER THERE.IT makes me mad that now our own STATES R heavily destroyed by a catastrophic event,and THERE WE ARE OVER IN IRAQ N OTHERS REBUILDING THERE CITIES.LETS THINK ABOOUT SOME OF THOSE FATHERS OVER IN IRAQ AND HUBBYS THERE WATCHING REPORTS OF THERE HOMETOWNS IN LA,MISSI.,ALAB.,THEY MUST FEEL LIKE OMG..WERE NOT THERE AND FEELIING HELPLESS .I THINK PRES.BUSH NEEDS TO STEP BACK AND REALLY LOOK AT WHERE THE BUDGET $$$ IS GOING..B/C THESE STATES ARE GONNA NEED HELP AND ITS GONNA BE A LONG TIME BEFORE THINGS WILL B NORMAL AGAIN.GOD BLESS THOSE FAMILIES...I can't even imagine what it will be like for those kids and families and what they are going through. I was stationed in Meridian, MS and we had the aftermath of some hurricanes. I thought it was bad then, I can't think of what it is now. It passed over Jackson, MS which is 2 hours west of Meridian and it was still a category 2 at that point. I know lots of people that are still there that I of course can get in contact with.
I saw on the news early yesterday, maybe the night before, some guy in Louisiana say they were going to ride it out, they have lived there forever it was no big deal, and that was when it was a category 4. Once it hit 5, he decided to leave. Hope it wasn't too late, what are they thinking!
I have been in contact with the Salvation Army headquarters .The representative I talked with informed me that FEMA was setting up things to help people with special needs effected by this hurricane.I have contacted FEMA to try to find out what they are doing,what needs they have,and how people can help. I am sure it will be a while before I hear from them because they are so swamped right now.I just wanted to pass on this information and I will pass on what I get from FEMA.
That was very thoughtful of you Go Falcons.Please keep us posted and let us know if there's anything we can do, even if it's just sending an email to say hi and were thinking of them.take care mom2carlowhy was this moved to hang out with friends? This topic is about autism and how the hurricaine may be affecting those with autism.
Karrie
Thank you for posting those links.I will pass them on to my sons teachers ,friends and family.
I am in the Atlanta area and we are seeing tons of evaquees from all three seriously effected states. The stories friends and thier families who are refugees from this storm are sharing with me and others here in our area are just chilling. Most of these people are going back to absolutely nothing. I will help these people stranded here in what little ways I can for as a long as they need me to.
From 2000-2003 I was stationed in Meridian, MS which is about 1 1/2 north of Biloxi. I have many friends still in Biloxi, Meridian, and every where in betwwen. I emailed them of course, but have only received one response so far, and that was from my next door neighbor on Naval Air Staion Meridian, MS. This is what she sent me last night. I am on many Autism boards, and this board is the only one that seems active in helping and worrying about the Hurricane victims. I wanted to share it with you.
I litterally just got my power back on about 20 mins ago. It has been horrible here. We were forced to sleep out in the tent in the front yard just to get fresh air. It was so hot in the house. We ran out of food this morning so I am very happy to have the power on. HOwever not all of housing has it at this point. I figure only about 50 percent does.
My parents are in a very bad bad situation. Gas is being rashoned and we are only allowed 20 dollars a day here on base. My parents could be 4 weeks to get power back on. My little sister went into labor just as the eye of the hurricane came over but luckly she was at the hospital working and they were able to stop the contractions. She isn't due until Oct 16th. People are killing each other in Hattisburg over a bag of ice. My parents are running out of food. They have a generator but they only have enough fuel for 2 more days. They can't even get to the store to get milk as the nearest store that is even open is over 40 mins away and they only have a half of tank of gas left. In there town they are only giving out gas for essential personal only. It is horrible. My uncle has 2 huge trees on his house. People around here in Lauderdale county are in dira strates. Some wont have power for a long time
This base is becoming headquarters for FEMA and they are expected to be here at least 6 months. They are also bringing in the Coast guard to be based here and will be moving coast guard families here. WE are also going to have the hospital here on base for the seriously injured in the gulf coast area. They are bringing in alot of medical personnal and going to have hospital beds and everything. I guess they are going to use the reserve center for this.
Thank the lord that no one in my family was hurt. They are somewhat displaced at this point but hopefully it will all work out. Just be glad you don't live here anymore. Thank you for thinking of us. It is a mess and will take sometime to get things back to normal or a new normal.
Right now they only want money, ice, bottled water, blankets maybe, and bug spray. They were initially slow on getting the aid in. Alot of the people that are left are the ones that couldn't leave. And some estimates say New Orleans won't be liveable for at least 10 years. That is a very long time for not having access to a city. That levy system could only support a category 3 hurricane. They should be dropping the mre's and the water. Who is in charge?
Also Minnesota is taking in some evacuees. They are letting college students enroll at the U of M . So if you have luck getting someone on the phone from the Autism Society here to make a donation that's great. I guess what ticks me off on this is where is Northwest Airlines? They claim they are for great customer service but so far they haven't donated that much? Why not have flights going in and out of New Orleans to get people out of there? I am pretty sure they could use the huge tax writeoff it would be.
I seen on the news that they are sending in special ops to get the runway working so maybe that is why they haven't started putting in planes yet...maybe because the runways are dammaged?
Karrie
Dont know if anyone is interested, but here is ASA's statement. My thoughts and prayers are with everyone involved, those withspecial needs in particuliar
ASA’S Katrina Relief Fund: Help Rebuild Families' Lives
In the wake of Hurricane Katrina's devastation, the Autism Society of America (ASA) staff is on the ground in the Houston area as evacuees from the Gulf Coast region are arriving in town by the busload. We are expecting over 50,000 families and have been informed that many of these families have special needs. We are particularly concerned for the safety and welfare of our families from the affected areas who have children and loved ones on the spectrum.
In response, ASA has established a special account to track charitable contributions and disbursements to ensure that funds donated for this purpose will provide immediate support to the families impacted by the hurricane. We encourage our members to make a donation to the relief effort in support of the vast amounts of work necessary to help those affected rebuild their homes...and their lives.
To donate now, use the form below.
Or make checks payable to:
ASA’s Katrina Relief Fund
7910 Woodmont Avenue, Ste. 300
Bethesda, MD 20814
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Ok, I was off a little with the numbers, but here is the article. It was in the Chicago Tribune. Kind of long, but it shows what the government really cares about.
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Why New Orleans is in deep water
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Molly Ivins, Creators Syndicate
September 1, 2005
AUSTIN, Texas -- Like many of you who love New Orleans, I find myself
taking short mental walks there today, turning a familiar corner,
glimpsing a favorite scene, square or vista. And worrying about the beloved
friends and the city, and how they are now.
To use a fine Southern word, it's tacky to start playing the blame game
before the dead are even counted. It is not too soon, however, to make
a point that needs to be hammered home again and again, and that is
that government policies have real consequences in people's lives.
This is not "just politics" or blaming for political advantage. This is
about the real consequences of what governments do and do not do about
their responsibilities. And about who winds up paying the price for
those policies.
This is a column for everyone in the path of Hurricane Katrina who ever
said, "I'm sorry, I'm just not interested in politics," or, "There's
nothing I can do about it," or, "Eh, they're all crooks anyway."
Nothing to do with me, nothing to do with my life, nothing I can do
about any of it. Look around you this morning. I suppose the National
Rifle Association would argue, "Government policies don't kill people,
hurricanes kill people." Actually, hurricanes plus government policies kill
people.
One of the main reasons New Orleans is so vulnerable to hurricanes is
the gradual disappearance of the wetlands on the Gulf Coast that once
stood as a natural buffer between the city and storms coming in from the
water. The disappearance of those wetlands does not have the name of a
political party or a particular administration attached to it. No one
wants to play, "The Democrats did it," or, "It's all Reagan's fault."
Many environmentalists will tell you more than a century's interference
with the natural flow of the Mississippi is the root cause of the
problem, cutting off the movement of alluvial soil to the river's delta.
But in addition to long-range consequences of long-term policies like
letting the Corps of Engineers try to build a better river than God,
there are real short-term consequences, as well. It is a fact that the
Clinton administration set some tough policies on wetlands, and it is a
fact that the Bush administration repealed those policies--ordering
federal agencies to stop protecting as many as 20 million acres of wetlands.
Last year, four environmental groups cooperated on a joint report
showing the Bush administration's policies had allowed developers to drain
thousands of acres of wetlands.
Does this mean we should blame President Bush for the fact that New
Orleans is underwater? No, but it means we can blame Bush when a Category
3 or Category 2 hurricane puts New Orleans under. At this point, it is
a matter of making a bad situation worse, of failing to observe the
First Rule of Holes (when you're in one, stop digging).
Had a storm the size of Katrina just had the grace to hold off for a
while, it's quite likely no one would even remember what the Bush
administration did two months ago. The national press corps has the attention
span of a gnat, and trying to get anyone in Washington to remember
longer than a year ago is like asking them what happened in Iznik, Turkey,
in A.D. 325.
Just plain political bad luck that, in June, Bush took his little ax
and chopped .2 million from the budget of the New Orleans Corps of
Engineers, a 44 percent reduction. As was reported in New Orleans
CityBusiness at the time, that meant "major hurricane and flood projects will
not be awarded to local engineering firms. Also, a study to determine
ways to protect the region from a Category 5 hurricane has been shelved
for now."
The commander of the corps' New Orleans district also immediately
instituted a hiring freeze and canceled the annual corps picnic.
Our friends at the Center for American Progress note the Office of
Technology Assessment used to produce forward-thinking plans such as
"Floods: A National Policy Concern" and "A Framework for Flood Hazards
Management." Unfortunately, the office was targeted by Newt Gingrich and the
Republican right, and gutted years ago.
In fact, there is now a governmentwide movement away from basing policy
on science, expertise and professionalism, and in favor of choices
based on ideology. If you're wondering what the ideological position on
flood management might be, look at the pictures of New Orleans--it seems
to consist of gutting the programs that do anything.
Unfortunately, the war in Iraq is directly related to the devastation
left by the hurricane. About 35 percent of Louisiana's National Guard is
now serving in Iraq, where four out of every 10 soldiers are guardsmen.
Recruiting for the Guard is also down significantly because people are
afraid of being sent to Iraq if they join, leaving the Guard even more
short-handed.
The Louisiana National Guard also notes that dozens of its high-water
vehicles, Humvees, refuelers and generators have also been sent abroad.
(I hate to be picky, but why do they need high-water vehicles in Iraq?)
This, in turn, goes back to the original policy decision to go into
Iraq without enough soldiers and the subsequent failure to admit that
mistake and to rectify it by instituting a draft.
The levees of New Orleans, two of which are now broken and flooding the
city, were also victims of Iraq war spending. Walter Maestri, emergency
management chief for Jefferson Parish, said on June 8, 2004, "It
appears that the money has been moved in the president's budget to handle
homeland security and the war in Iraq."
This, friends, is why we need to pay attention to government policies,
not political personalities, and to know whereon we vote. It is about
our lives.
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Molly Ivins is a syndicated columnist based in Washington. E-mail:
info@creators.com
Copyright (c) 2005, Chicago Tribune
I wanted to add this to my post regarding the ASA.
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. Keep those prayers going.