Vote for...

I do not like election talk. (in other words....prepare for a rant.)

In fact, I hate it.

Lately, I have been doing less and less television watching and that is not due to the fact that EVERY commercial is a slam against some political opponent, though that would be a good reason to do so. I just don't have the time and patience for television anymore. I would much rather read a book and let my brain give me imagery than a box. Plus, we have found with Maddy that too much TV is not good for her brain. We notice her behavior is directly related. Lots of tv = bad behavior. Less tv = good behavior. And she watches good things like Little Einsteins or Word World and still...it affects her.

So in the rare moments when I take time to watch something and I see the political ads, it disgusts me. And it's not just television....you can see it all over the internet. Facebook can get brutal.

I'm not necessarily a party voter. Admittedly I tend to vote more democratic but don't stop reading now because you are a republican. I frankly don't care what party you are.

What I do frankly care about is autism. Specifically what is going to be done about it.

And have ANY of the candidates discussed it in detail......

Can any of you answer that?

I sure can't.

In my stupid state (I do LOVE north dakota, I honestly sincerely do.) I haven't heard a word about it. My stupid state still cannot pass any kind of insurance reform. My stupid state still cannot agree that ABA is the best course for autism. My stupid state is so messed up that people have to quit their jobs just so they can qualify for Medicaid so they can get HELP because they can't afford to work and not get any help. MESSED UP.

Oh but wait....this candidate wants to cut Medicaid because people are just lazy on Medicaid. If they were cut from it, then they would be inspired to get a job. Sorry. No. I will honestly admit we were on Medicaid for 2 years while Maddy had her diagnosis. We were on WIC. My husband has a state government job and we could not afford to pay for our expenses. Our community rallied around us and raised THOUSANDS of dollars to pay for Maddy's treatment that was still mostly supported by VOLUNTEERS.

Could I have worked to gain an income so we wouldn't have had to be on Medicaid? Oh but I was. I was working my butt off running my daughter's ABA program. Her 30+ hour a week ABA program that required close to 75+ hours a week for me. Not to mention my other two kids. And the 24 hour a day monitoring that she needed. But...sure...i should have found a job instead....left my kid to her autism world and left the tax payers to pay for her future institutionalized care that would have been near millions by the end of her life. Yeah, that makes sense.

No one is talking about an epidemic happening to our kids. It was 1 in 120, then 1 in 100, and NOW 1 in 88....holy crap. And NO ONE is talking about this???? Even AIDS in the 90s wasn't this bad and it was ALL OVER THE NEWS. I remember being taught as a young elementary kid about AIDS and how it was safe to be around people with AIDS...how not to bully them. Is anyone teaching our kids about autism? Is anyone teaching them how to be around kids with autism and not to bully them?

So who will I vote for? Show me a candidate passionate about autism - finding a cause and teaching remission while forcing insurance reform....and I will vote for them.