First Post (of Many)

This is Steven Ayotte (better to be known by Steven Clickford.)

This is my first of many posts hoping to make change in the state I live in, to hopefully followers who live in the same state I live in and waking up any of the one-point-three million residence that I call “home”. The Granite State that one had the Great Stone Face and basically an average of an hour and a half drive/ride to the mountains, lakes and ocean is not as perfect as I was as I was a child – the “first generation autistic” back in the 1990s.

The state allegedly was a leader in service delivery for anyone with a developmental disability. According to one special interest groups, its now at 25, you could say its bet or worst as it is right in the middle.

I label myself as a “hopeless autistic”. Born in the personal computer generation, and remembered how much I hated the Web before I loved it, I grew up in one of the most wealthiest towns in Western Rockingham County. When I was placed out of district in 1999, and was confronted of my autism diagnosis (was dx’d in 1994) – my whole world fell apart. I just entered into middle school in town and lost everything. My friends, my social skills (I wasn’t as “creepy” back then), my happiness, the ability to wake up at 7:30 in the morning and jump on the bus an hour later with positivity.

It all disappeared.

Further in high school and into adulthood, I was starting to feel hopeless, and now in 2015, I made a big statement of publicly saying I’m a “Hopeless Autistic” and made an SOS message on the sand at Hampton Beach State Park this past summer (without my family knowing.)

I feel that my life is falling apart by the second – literally. If you thought an American made car would be so junk, maybe its actually a human being (allegedly, I think I’m human…)  that is more unreliable than a car made from Detroit.

I do have support systems, I am in an area agency, I do live with my family, but other than that – that is my only support. I have professional relations with the state and its leadership, but I disagree with many of their views (because I leave my politics at home and bring systemic politics outside the house.) The limitations in life is out of said control. That control must be deferred to Concord, at the special interest groups, the State’s Department of Health and Human Services, the DHHS’ Bureau of Developmental Services, the Medicaid “managed care” companies, and our governor, our leaders in the General Court  and at the local level at the school administrative units (SAUs) and town officials (mostly public safety.)

If we as state as a whole can’t move forward, expect individuals or even families to start becoming “hopeless” I thought the 21st Century was supposed to bring more hope.

I only wished this was a fictional blog, it is not. I will shut it down once there is progress, because all special interests groups should come and go.  But I am an honest person that wants to tell the story live and uncut. If I ever glorified or over dramatized my narrative, then I loose my credibility. But at this point, my reputation was destroyed in 1999, so I have nothing to loose. I hope?

College/University Talk

AS I promised in a post in June, I was going to write and report about how colleges are not always the best fit for people with various disorders, in this case for autism related disorders relevant to the United States.
You are better off flipping burgers at the local McDonalds and work up the ladder to a VP of the company in a few years making more than someone with a 6 year liberal arts study that won’t be applied into a few, if any serious career down the road.
For disabilities: first off, the colleges are protected only under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. The Individuals with Disabilities Educational Act  or IDEA only applies to the local school systems for students over the age of 3 and under 21 in 40 out of the 50 states. The IDEA (which mostly is federal funds) can make a student’s education vary lenient. However in the mean and and tough world of adulthood, the colleges are not protected by IDEA.
Their reasoning is: college is not a right or a need. Well the black and white sense, it is right, but in the abstract sense, the government’s agenda over the course of the last century has essentially indoctrinated that its a need to to go to college. Regardless whether its legally or philosophically right, can be debated forever. Providing intense services colleges aren’t required by law to provide such services.  Another issue is college is much like getting a job, you don’t have the right to get that specific job; same with college.
So colleges or universities aren’t not required to change the curricula, they are not required to change the content, they are not required to change the testing times, and also they  can only change things for “reasonable accommodations” so if you aren’t physically disabled, you can’t get a wheelchair, (if that has ever been done at the local school district under IDEA.)
Applying to a college doesn’t mean you will get into that place. It’s all about if you are the right candidate for that degree you are applying for. That goes out of the window in some cases if you have a rich daddy who has a Rolodex card who can sweet talk the school to get you in there, another negatives of “networking.”
So to make it short, getting a K-12  education is required by law, you need 12 year education, and if you have a special need, you need special education to get through those classes, confirming that college is allegedly a choice.
Another annoyance, is how states like Massachusetts that have approved laws to enable illegal aliens (citizens who are from outside this country, that have no Green card, no legal non-citizen paperwork) to get free (yes free) college education. So you can come to the States with no immigration paperwork and theoretically  make up a high school diploma here on a piece of a napkin (if you came from a “third world country”), go to UMASS Boston and ask to take the most expensive degree and not expect a bill from there, meanwhile the working families from New Hampshire, that pays extra because of the out of state tuition are getting screwed! And what about the legal “ailens” the ones who have autism like disorders? They get put well into the bottom of the queue!
Colleges and universities can really push their students to be as independent as possible. They do help students with “time management” skills,”self-advocacy” skills, and assistance for tutors in case the student’s are unable to study on their own. Lots of these things are done because the colleges are simply ignorant in providing “user friendly” (so to speak) programs for special needs, most importantly the developmentally disabled.
Not only that, the mentally ill is the most at risk, worse than people with autism or other developmental disorders. Colleges insist that their students act like adults, and in that case, if some seem to have issues, they expect given they are legal adults, to fend for themselves. There has been several tragedies in the last few years by young people in their early twenties and in these cases – mental illness actually gets caught then and not earlier. The most recent issue was in the Denver area movie theatre shooting, where apparently red flags started to show just weeks before the gunman shot there.
Another issue is colleges (both faculty and students) have traditionally accepted minorities, racial minorities, sexual orientations, various political and philosophical views, as well as people with physical disabilities. Sadly, if you have a conservative view, or you have a mental disorder or developmental disorder, or you are a white folk, colleges have not been accepting to such groups, which is disappointing.
I remember reading the local newspaper and when UNH started a minority group,  they interviewed some black (or could’ve been an Indian)  girl was so scared going into her first class because of the prejudice of her classmates. While I am loosely quoting that article, but what about the autistic groups? There are individuals that I wouldn’t be surprised to know they had similar experiences. From people I have talked to who work for that Institution, they have crafted some programs, but that includes that dirty word known as “self advocacy”
Unfortunately, at the end of the day, the unions, the extreme leftie moonbats are still controlling the college systems, and meanwhile the most vulernable citizens of society, the working class, the ones with special needs are getting screwed by the elitists. The real “adults” are the people that are most vulnerable; meanwhile the normal peers and the union preachers are the ones that whine and bitch about how this country sucks, etc. and not willing to teach students they think are “disruptive” – well maybe we need some DISRUPTION of the same ol’ same ol’! While they preach on change, they are the last groups to adapt to change.

I’ve made the decision to stop looking into the college thing last year and never looked back.