"Well maybe we can do something about that."

I don't want to keep writing about this current administration but dammit Trump, you are NOT making this easy. I live a pretty stressed out life to begin with, so folks who are complaining about the current state of affairs as being too much I kind of snicker at them. Our lives has been in a constant state of "Oh my god! What's the next fire I have to put out?" since the day "autism" first was mentioned to us.

Yes, I won't lie. I'm not feeling confident where things are going.  Things were kind of "meh" with autism and Obama.  Things now are kind of at a "WTF?!?!" level for me and this guy.  All I keep hearing those is to wait and see, which is HILARIOUS to say to an autism family.  We do not have the luxury of "wait and see".  I also keep hearing to give it a chance.  Can you hear the side eye I am giving that statement?

But then he has to go have a meeting with Betsy DeVos and a bunch of educators.  It's one of those PR things where it's less about what's being said and more about taking pictures and getting sound bites for the media.  All presidents do this.  All the folks around the table are introducing themselves and he gets to Jane Quenneville, who is a principal of a Virginia public school specializing in special education and mostly, autism.  He decides he needs to ask more about autism. Okay Donnie,  You have my attention.  If you want to watch the video clip, check it out here. Trump/Education meeting.

Okay, he's asking about the increasing rates of autism.  Yes, that is a good question to ask.  What I have a problem with is actually a couple of things. Let me make a list. Blog readers love them some lists.

1)"It's a really horrible thing to watch." Yeah, Hi Donnie. Is my Kiddo a "horrible thing"? I don't think so.  You may not have meant it like that but DUDE, that is exactly how it came off.  Once again, let's play the "Autism is a great big scary monster that we need to avoid at all costs.!" card.  The problem with that thinking is how in the hell do you think we can get the rest of the world to accept our loved ones who have autism if we accept this kind of thinking? So yeah, I call you out on that DOOM and GLOOM talk because it does not help.

2) Once again who is being asked about autism? Not an actual autistic person. Call me silly but I would think if you would want to know MORE about a topic, that would be a good place to start. While I can appreciate an educator with actual experience in the field, it seems to me our boy Donnie is missing a step here.  Perhaps if he talked to an autistic adult or two, he would realize that referring to autism as a horrible thing to watch is kind of insulting to autistic people.

3) He ends the exchange with "Well maybe we can do something about that."  What?  What exactly are you going to do?  This is such a BS line I could fertilize my lawn with it.  Again, I get it. This is one of those photo ops that presidents do but give me a break. Is this suppose to be the sentence where I am suppose to fall to my knees in gratitude? Cause I'm sorry. I need MORE details than that.

4) Will the government ever realize that these autistic kids of ours do this outrageous thing called "growing up"?  Yes, spoiler alert Donnie!  All these kids that you are trying to show concern for are going to become adults.  I know! Shocking! In fact, many of autistic adults NOW are under or unemployed.  Many depend on Social Security and Medicaid just to get by and it's still not enough.  You want to something to do about that?  How about addressing that issue!?!?

He may be worried about the increasing autism rates. I'm more worried we once again have a president who doesn't have a freaking clue about an entire population that lives in this country.  Stop spinning the topic of autism for your sound bites and actually DO something!

Till then, no fries for you Donnie.  No fries for you.

Here's another thought. A little less tweeting. Less screen time at night. You'll sleep better