this is really powerful:
http://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1s1pur8
Myrna
· @SailorSoapbox
17th May 2014 from TwitLonger
My 15-year-old sister has Autism Spectrum Disorder of moderate severity. I am 12 years older, and have occupied a co-parent role since she was born. There is no one in the world I love more than my little sister, and my parents are fine with that.
With the onset of adolescence, however, she began to have trouble distinguishing her nightmares from reality, and she began physically attacking her family and people at school when she became angry. The police and the ambulances had to be called sometimes when we could not get her calmed down. Sometimes that is just the reality. When she is not angry, she is clever, funny, affectionate, kind, curious and enthusiastic, and every day I learn something new from her.
It absolutely broke our hearts to have to make the choice, but we took the advice of experts who told us that putting my sister in a group home was the only solution to help her with her emotional problems. Griffin Centre is one of the charitable organizations that helped us to care for my sister. The waitlists to get in one of their homes are years long, and they have only a few locations...thanks to NIMBYism.
Ward 2's group home is only 10 minutes away from where we live, but instead my sister now lives in Grimsby, over an hour's drive away and $50+ in gas for one round trip. We see her every week, and when we have to part, my heart breaks all over again - even though I get to talk to her on the phone every day.
If Doug Ford had his way, my baby sister would be on some remote farm somewhere - away from the "normal" people, where she would be out of sight and out of mind. My baby sister is not a "mental person," and she deserves to live in a residential neighbourhood just like anyone else. Doug Ford and every resident of Ward 2 who is trying to force the Griffin Centre residents & staff to move are spitting in the face of my family, my sister, and every other family with an autistic child in need.
Doug Ford, you are an irredeemable and evil man. You and your criminal brother not only do not deserve public office, you don't even deserve to live in Toronto. You make me sick.
Ward 2 residents, your ignorance and bigotry brings shame to everyone in Toronto. Instead of trying to help your children to understand natural differences, you just want them to go away so you can live your suburban dream. I hope your children do not grow up as mindless as you have. You and the Fords have hurt me deeply, you have hurt my family deeply, and you have insulted wonderful people like my sister. This blatant discrimination and ableism is not what Toronto values. You're more than welcome to go live on farms yourselves. You do far more damage than any autistic child could ever do.
