Susan Senator

Nat went off to the Boston Ballet to see The Nutcracker tonight with Quest, his social group. John came by here with Nat’s suitcase after he’d dropped him off at the Rec Center. It came up that Nat needs a raincoat because as John put it, “When I picked up Nat today from work he was soaking wet.” Apparently his winter coat, his pants, and his hair, were completely wet from work. John asked the people in charge of Nat at his day program what happened, and they did not know. They said that he must have gone out to do carts or something in the rain and came in wet.

John asked them where was the job coach when this was happening, because it is a safety issue. Nat should not be allowed to get so wet, he could get sick. Where was the job coach? Where was the person looking out for Nat? Why didn’t they know that he was getting all wet? John said, “They should have known that Nat would just go and not say anything about being wet.”

Nat is very compliant, and someone was asleep at the wheel. John is on top of this, with emails to the people in charge at the day program, but as he put it, “If I don’t hear back satisfactorily I am going to turn the matter over to you.”

As far as I’m concerned, the matter is already mine because I am so mad, and so sad. John said he’d CC me on the next go around. I think I will call the day program as well.

Here is the thing, again and again. The disability prevents him from speaking up for himself. He just thinks he has to go because they are telling him to. Ahhhh, I hate that he didn’t know or didn’t think he had a choice, that he was out there wet, cold, and uncomfortable. No, no, that is not how I’m trying to run this world. But the fact is, I don’t run the world. If autism moms ran the world, sons would not get soaked in the rain. If autism moms ran the world, they would live forever. Or they wouldn’t have to, because the world would behave itself.

The good thing here is that, listening and looking at John, I recognized some of my own outrage and determination to set this right. He said, “I just was so upset, I almost yelled right there…” He is on top of it, he is right there with Nat. And I don’t need to be first in command on World Duty because John is.

But I’m still scared. I feel like something slipped today, and I’m not quite sure if everything is back where it should be. He’s a little hoarse and I thought I just heard him try to throw up. I have to remember, he’s strong and young, he’s not a little boy, he just got wet. A lot of us got wet today and we’re okay. He came home looking like a model, with new stylish clothes and his blond hair gleaming. He saw the Nutcracker, and when Ned asked “what happened in the Nutcracker?” Nat answered, “The girl fell down.”  Maybe it was a bad day for The Boston Ballet, too.  At least Nat is still standing.