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Autism For Dummies (Lesson #1) -- Verse-Case Scenario by Tony Peyser

Submitted by BuzzFlash on Fri, 04/18/2008 - 8:48am.
April is Autism Awareness Month and National Poetry Month. I'm a poet
and my son, Jeremy, has autism. Consider the following verse a twofer.

If you have a heap of friends
Autism will make a mess of them
Trust me: you'll be seeing
A rather good deal less of them.

People pulled away from us
Like we'd caused a public scandal
Our problems with Jeremy
They weren't equipped to handle.

My wife & I were soon shunned
Like Quakers, which we found outrageous
Many acted like they believed
That Jeremy's condition was contagious.

But after the shock had subsided
And our social life had vastly receded
We found that the few friends left
Were the only ones we really needed.

And with thinner address books
We saw there were now sufficient spaces
To begin adding the new names
Who would take all of the old one's places.

VERSE CASE SCENARIO

Tony Peyser provides daily poems and weekly cartoons for BuzzFlash and also writes the BuzzFlash column, "Blue State Jukebox." He was a daily cartoonist for the L.A. Times from 1994 to 1997. You can e-mail Tony at tonypeyser@yahoo.com.

 

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Thank You Tony!

Submitted by Demeter on Sat, 04/19/2008 - 10:22am.
As the mother of a 25 year old daughter with the syndrome, I can attest to your points. Best of luck to you and your son.
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Five for Fighting - Autism video and donation.

Submitted by TJAmericanWay on Sat, 04/19/2008 - 8:37am.
The band, Five for Fighting, is generously donating $0.49 to Autism Speaks for *each time* the video is viewed. The funding goes toward research studies to help find a cure. When you have a moment, please visit the link below to watch the video and pass it along to your friends and family. They are aiming for 10,000 hits, but hopefully we can help them to surpass this goal.

http://www.whatkindofworlddoyouwant.com/videos/view/id/408214

Only my best wishes to you and yours, Tony...
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