Ann Bauer: Where’s the support for autism?

By Ann Bauer - Published 12:00 am PDT Wednesday, July 23, 2008 Story appeared in section, Page NONE There is a family down the street whom I envy. I've never met them. They live in a two-story white house — a mother, a father and their grown son. Outside is a trimmed yard with rosebushes and a wooden arbor where the men work on weekends. The dad, who looks to be near 60, pushes a wheelbarrow or carries a set of shears. The son could be 20 — the age of my oldest child — or 40. He is a short, egg-shaped man. He walks behind his father, carrying large shovels and bags of dirt and the like. He works tirelessly, from what I can see, and talks most of the time. On weekdays, when I am taking my youngest child to school, I sometimes see him holding a cloth lunch bag and boarding a small bus. I imagine that at work he is as cheerful... [read full story]