Severe Autism Kills

The average lifespan of a person with Severe Autism is 39.5 years.  This shocking number is directly impacted by the excessive number of people with Severe Autism who die each year due to homicide.  They are killed by their parents, family members, other caretakers, or by police.  Severly autistic people are murdered by guns, beatings, intentional poisoning, neglect, starvation, and in some cases ignorance.

The murder of a person with Severe Autism is often accompanied by the suicide of their parent or caretaker.  I know far more about this subject than I wish. During the designated Autism Awareness Month that takes place in April many parents and advocates severely/profoundly autistic children make futile attempts to let the public know that unlike higher functioning individuals with autism, our families have been left in the dark.

My book is a collection of reletively recent news stories documenting the murder of people with severe autism. It is not presented to condemn, rather to educate and rattle the public to awareness with the hope of bringing much needed help to this crisis where lives are in jeopardy.  This book and title cannot be anything other than controversial and harrowing. It had to be written by an insider like me, the parent of twin boys with Autism Spectrum Disorder. My boys are now 18, Griffin is considered high functioning while his twin brother, Spencer is severly and profoundly autistic.

In addition to personal experience, I have also educated myself on the family experience with autism. I am an activist in my state and I am responsible for a new law in New Jersey that allows for 10 additional hours of respite per month to qualified families of severly autistic children.  Even this would not be enough to be the author of a book like mine which is sure to enrage some with their own agendas. I am strong, assured, can endure any critism, and will stand my ground.  My bravery comes from living on the edge of sanity in the chaos of a household with a severly autistic child.

Public speaking is a great strength of mine and I will surely need it while promoting a book that will evoke passionate emotions.  No person alive today can say, “Frankly, I don’t give a damn!” more forcefully than this mother.

Upon request.

My background: I am the daughter of a Rabbi which taught me that all authority figures have many sides to their personalities. I graduated with a B.A. degree in Humanities and Women’s Studies from Ohio State Universitynin 1992.  I am a former public school special education teacher and I currently work for Pearson Education.

I see myself as more than an author. I am a force for good. Please reach out to me,