I know I shouldn’t but in some ways I do.
I don’t want to ask for help. I want to give it to other people. However, logic tells me that at some point in everyone’s life someone is going to need help. Yesterday, I posted an article about how Dominick needs an accessible van. We had been talking with friends about launching a website for Dominick that would allow us to eventually move out of our non-accessible home and today I broke virtual ground on A House 4 Dom.
I feel this website and this cause is important because:
1. Dominick is only able to get into two rooms in our house. In one room he has to be in his wheelchair. In the other room he has to be laying in bed.
2. He cannot get into our bathroom. In five years he has not had a shower. He’s had to sponge bathe.
3. Dominick cannot go anywhere socially. We do not live on a bus line and we do not have accessible transportation. It seems funny that Dominick can affect lives for the better, but he could never meet these people without getting some help of his own.
4. Dominick cannot get into our kitchen.
5. He misses out on things that would benefit his health.
6. He never complains about all that he needs. Instead, he tries to focus on what someone else needs instead.
This alone would make me want to help him, if I had anything more to give. However, there is more to the story that I never considered mentioning until now. Our 14 year old, we call CT, could also benefit from a new home, for different reasons.
CT is on the Autistic Spectrum. He was abused by the school system as a child and we decided to bring him home and homeschool him. He does well, but he has a social disorder and needs good therapy and he needs social interaction to help him begin to understand people as much as he can. We tried to get him involved in the homeschool group here in our area, but the mother’s felt that CT’s “illness” might rub off on their children. While they have been polite in sending every mother with a disabled child in the county my email, they did little else to help my son or his self-esteem.
Likewise, after having a therapist or two quit on the fly, the best option for therapy in the area, no longer seems to be a viable solution because it only reminds CT of the people that abandoned him. He doesn’t understand when people get a job. He understands a personal connection that he had and lost.
CT moving to another county would help him because:
1. He would be able to be involved in one of the best Autism Programs in the state
2. He would receive group and individual therapy with Asperger specialists that are known worldwide
3. He would be placed in an excellent homeschool group with parents that have children that are understanding to special needs, some of them are “normal” and others are in wheelchairs or have problems similar to CT. The important thing is that they all want to be friends and help each other out.
4. He would be able to become involved in Social Skills Groups and Services that are not available where we live.
5. He would benefit educationally from a better cultural environment and from nearby Summer Camps that he has expressed interest in.
6. It would be a new start for a little boy that feels the people that are supposed to help him have given up on him.
This is just a short list of ways that it would help him. In my opinion, they are some of the most important things. As a mother, I wish I could just pack up and get him the help he needs right now. Though in this trying economy, I more than anyone understand how lucky we are to be in this situation because I know it could be worse.
This, more than anything, is what makes me feel selfish. I know that my son and the one I love are not the only ones suffering. I know others are out there in worse situations. Still, the love I have for them makes me want to take away their pain and asking for help from those that can give it, is the only thing I can think of to do to help them both.
If you are one of those people please consider a donation.
From now on all of the posts concerning this particular topic will be on A House 4 Dom. However, if and when donations come in I will make sure to update this to let people know. Additionally, you should see a fresh total when looking at the donation bar above.
Thanks for even considering to help. I hope one day we can offer you the same consideration to fulfill your needs and dreams.
Technorati Tags: Dominick Evans, CT, A House 4 Dom, Aspergers Syndrome, Autistic Spectrum, Group Therapy, Wheelchair, Accessible Van
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