*sighs*
My Mom is still working on making connections with Eastern Health, trying to get services for me so that I can live independently. I’m working (somewhat – I seriously need help with motivation, depression has me in its grasp) on getting Income Support and Employment Insurance. I’ve filled out the forms and stuff, now it’s mostly waiting.
But for Mom… she keeps running into the same old problem. “If she has an IQ of higher than 70, we can’t help her.”
Where the frigging hell did this “IQ ≤ 70” come from? It’s the “mental retardation” number. In the “system”, it means that people with that IQ need support for independent living.
It’s a lie, or a stupid idea that’s been carried forward from a period when there wasn’t much awareness out there about the realities of various “developmental” disabilities.
Yes, I will admit that IQ has something to do with the ability to take care of oneself. But it isn’t the be all and end all of the matter. I have an IQ somewhere in the hundred-plus area – I wouldn’t call myself a genius, but I am highly intelligent – and taking care of myself… I have a lot of difficulties with it. I have survived (sort of) living on my own before, but with serious difficulties and a lot of stress involved, as well as an inability to clean up my living space. That’s a problem, especially when it involves a lot of paper and books (see: fire hazard).
In other words, there are other factors that have to be taken into account. It can’t all come down to IQ, because there are a lot of us who do have the high IQ (even among so-called “low functioning” ASDers), and so aren’t getting the supports and services that we need. And I’m getting semi-desperate about this. I can’t live with my parents forever – they’re retired, and need to have their own lives – but at the same time, I need the support.
I don’t know what to do about it. Write an article for the Telegram and / or the Globe and Mail? Get the Autism Society working on it (if they aren’t already)? This is something that affects people in both Canada and the US, I know. Are there other places where it affects people? Can anyone give me some suggestions about what I might do to help the issue? I really want this changed, but it’s a big thing that’s been in existence for a comparatively long time.
Help!
😐 tagAught
I have the same support issues and I have a very high IQ (not bragging, just saying.) And I have gotten turned away for all kinds of help because my IQ is too high for life support but my functioning is too low for vocational assistance. It’s hard and scary because I do live alone and I can’t even ask the landlord to send someone around to fix my sink because you can only get in my apartment by opening the door a crack and squeezing in. It’s pure chaos in here and I live in fear that I’ll be discovered and evicted for it.
So I have no running water in my kitchen, no oven, half as much heat as I need. A hole in the wall that needs patching. Electrical wiring problems. Plumbing problems. And barely enough money to pay rent here. The rent is low because I’ve lived in this apartment for a decade. If I were evicted, I would be homeless, because all the other apartments cost at least $100 mor than this one.
Something needs to be done about how it’s decided when it comes to who can get services and who can’t. Because the way things are now is just ridiculous.
{{{Virtual Hugs!}}}
🙂 tagAught
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I think writing a letter to the Telegram is an excellent idea. You can reference the exposé the Star did on lack of adult ASD services and how much it’s helped spur an increase in these to the point where it became a provincial election issue. The IQ level is unfortunately and frustratingly due to funding problems – they had to put a cut-off somewhere and that’s where they decided on. Everyone who works there, though, knows how badly it cuts out people on the spectrum, but they can’t do anything about it.
You’ll have to give me a URL for the Star article; I’d definitely be interested in reading it!
Hope things are going well for you!
🙂 tagAught
Hope I’m not stepping on any toes here.
Autism-gut connections: http://www.thestar.com/news/insight/2013/04/07/researchers_probe_link_between_autism_and_gastrointestinal_problems.html
Helping U.S. research: http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2013/04/02/brain_mapping_project_aims_to_help_with_alzheimers_strokes_other_diseases.html
Here’s the Autism Project from The Star: http://www.thestar.com/news/world/autismproject.html
Hope you find the information useful/helpful.
*waves to you* Good to hear from you! {Hugs}
🙂 tagAught