Sunday, October 03, 2010

Coincidence

A minor one, it's true. A few days ago a relative whose grandchild is autistic visited me. The current issue of The Atlantic has a feature article about the person first diagnosed as being autistic. Last night I saw the move, "Temple Grandin". So, autism is on my mind.

The subject of the Atlantic article is Donald Triplett. He is now 77 and lives the life of a successful senior citizen. He golfs almost daily, he has visited 36 countries and continues to travel extensively, he is able to live alone and the author thinks that Donald is reasonably happy. Donald is successful because his parents were wealthy and were strong and persistent in seeking a diagnosis for his condition and he was lucky to live in a small town which had 'leading citizens', including his parents.

Had his parents not been as persistent in seeking the right help for Donald, he would have been treated like so many others at the time who had the same symptoms and he would have wound up in a mental institution for life.

The Temple Grandin movie was just fantastic. Claire Danes, who played the lead, was very good. The movie has won seven Emmmys. Again, Grandin probably would not have succeeded if she had a different mother or if she didn't meet the right mentor for her. And succeeded she has! Just look at her accomplishments!

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