sadden and confused

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Did anyone notice the announcement that Alex posted on the Wrong Planet website about the unexpected death of Genevieve
Edmonds by suicide, who was a UK-based advocate and author of many books addressing the need for increased visibility and support for adults on the autism spectrum?

As much as I feel grief for her family, what kind of message does her decision to commit suicide say to those of us still struggling with the day to day issues as adults on the Autism Spectrum? Should we all expect to one day give up that struggle?

Prehaps this is what my psychiatrist always tries to emphasize when I feel sad and depressed over life's challenges when they become too great at times... that a person who commits suicide, can easily set a precedent to others who may identify with such individuals and feel it is okay to give up rather than continue to face life's challenges.

May God bless you, Genevieve Edmonds...and I am sorry that the leadership role as an advocate for those of us on the Autism Spectrum apparently became too great for you.

I'd never heard of of her. I really want to buy her books now I've had a peak.

I don't know why she committed suicide or if anyone knows, so I can't speculate. I know many people go through suicidal episodes, which are like a microcosm of depression not necessarily reflecting their life. However there are a whole magnitude of reasons why people might decide to take their own life, you can't assume all reasons are totally irrational.

who? anyways i guess i dont know who it is because i come right to the forums, i dont go to the home page

I personally don't know her but in my early years I was very suicidal. I had been in and out of hospitals. I even stabbed myself. This was of course before I had been diagnosed. At that time I was also dealing with substance abuse. I'm glad to say I have been sober for over a year and 2 months. If I hadn't gotten help, I'd probably be dead now. I think suicide is a sad thing. For me, it was away to escape life's problems without learning from them. The downs can be very rough for someone like me but there's always the ups. It's sad to learn that a person with a gift that was used in this world took that and themselves out of this world.

We have a profoundly autistic daughter with grand mal seizures who is 23. We love her, immensely, and we are also involved in the local communities as time allows. So we know a lot of parents in similar circumstances. Sometimes, we just see each other here or there or over lunch. I cannot tell you how many times a mother I'm talking with will bring up how horrible our societies are in "treating the least within them" -- 25 years less life due to problems _acquired_ as a result of "state care" (the term acquired is the word used in the reports on the problem and well documented); rampant abuse; in the case of my wife's brother, the _intentional_ experimentation upon him without anyone's knowledge (documented) and he died at 37, a few years back; etc. The subject comes up, "What will you do when you can't take care of your child, anymore?" Time and time again I heard, "I'm taking him out into the garage with me and we'll just turn on the car. What else can I do?" I've heard it so many times, now, that I don't even notice a sad flinch in the back of my mind, anymore. It's a perfectly normal response and I've grown to accept it as a part of normal conversation.

Google up "murder suicide autism."

Added: By the way, our own next door neighbor, a man who had broken his neck at 17 diving into a pool and living 30 years in a wheel chair, was killed by his caregiver a few years back when we lived there. He'd gone around, in fact, and told the neighbors around us (we were not there at the time) that if he died in the next couple of days that the caregiver would be the one doing it. Not that caregivers are bad people. That's not the point. His dad was an attorney and a judge. He'd set up all the right things; trust fund, home, etc., for his own child. But none of that protected him. What he needed was people around him who cared about him as a person. And instead, he lived an essentially isolated and lonely life with paid caregivers and none of that protected him in the end, nor gave him a life he felt was very fulfilling. It has made us realize that we need community and not isolated lives. And a lot of parents I know understand this so deeply inside themselves, that all they see for the future of their own children is sporadic abuse they are helpless to deal with, caregivers paid so low that turnover is measured in small numbers of months or else those who stay couldn't get a job elsewhere (or they are saints, but those are rare.) Most, if they stay in the business and are any good, gravitate out of such jobs to where some money is at. Which is NOT the care. So the relationships of earnest care do not develop. Parents know this in their souls. Anyway...

Jon

if someone is suffering that greatly, i think it's unfair to worry about the message they send out. it blows my mind when people worry about the message, and not the -person-.