Very sad thing . . .

I was reading a New York Times article about the decision of a federal court regarding three separate suits brought by the parents of autistic children against the Vaccine Injury Compensation Fund-- the court found overwhelmingly that there was no evidence in any of the cases that vaccines, mercury, or thimerosol had caused the autism of the children. While I was relieved and happy with that decision (I am pro-vaccine, part of my nurse's horror of preventable communicable diseases), a line from the article caught my eye and I had to do some Googling.

What I found, sadly, was the story of Gertrude Steuernagel, a sixty year old Kent State professor and mother to an 18-year old autistic son. Her son apparently beat her so severely on January 29th that she died on Friday from the injuries sustained in the attack. The truly tragic thing was that Ms. Steuernagel loved her son, had recently written an article detailing her struggles with him, but had not gotten any help to deal with his (apparently) very severe issues.

Here's a quote in her own words: "I had no patience with good and decent colleagues who told me how busy they were," she wrote. "Busy? Try spending an evening sitting in a closet with your back to the door trying to hold it shut while your child kicks it in."

This woman needed help-- an aide to come in to help her to manage her son, someone to intervene during the more stressful parts of his day (they're usually bedtimes or bathtimes or other transitions that autistic people have difficulty in dealing with.) She needed someone there to support her, or just someone to support her in the difficult decision to place her son in a residential treatment center or group home. I'm just sorry she didn't get it. May the Lord have mercy upon her soul, and may the state of Ohio find a suitable place for this disabled young man to live out his life. A prison is not the place for him.