President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC  20500
Fax: 202-456-2461

Dear President Obama,

Good morning.

We woke up today unsure of which issue to tackle first.

Should we go after federal laws to protect our children from being punched, suffocated, or locked in rooms at school? Or should we allow the harmful restraint & seclusion to continue?

Should we work to pay for our teenagers’ diapers today? Or work to keep more children from wandering off and drowning in a lake?

Should we try to prevent the next seizure today? Or worry about where millions of disabled adults will live after their parents are dead & gone?

Should we ignore the thousands of stories of regression following vaccinations? Or should we ignore the health officials who say it’s all just a big coincidence?

Should we shout at the top of our lungs today that autism is treatable & autism is preventable? Or simply nod along with the mainstream doctors who say we’re wrong?

Should we raise hell today about the next child who will regress from an over-the-top vaccination schedule? Or should we just let it happen?

Should we worry about the children who will have violent meltdowns today? Or the ones who can’t stop hitting themselves? Or the ones who don’t ever sleep? Or the ones who can’t point to what hurts, so all they can do is SCREAM? Or should we help the mother who is threatening suicide on this day? Or pay for the funeral of the father who committed suicide yesterday?

Better yet, maybe we should help the families who are bankrupt because health insurance doesn’t cover autism?

Then again, skyrocketing divorce rates in the autism community really need our attention along with the fact that “autism” is just a word some guy came up with 70 years ago to describe a new, rare mental condition that we’re finding is actually more environmental.

So, should we fight to reclassify the whole-body condition today?
Or fight for our children’s education?
Or fight for our children’s therapy?
Or fight for our children’s rights?
Or fight for our children’s cure?
Or fight to get them out of this hell?

Should we show up in Washington today to yell about the ZERO answers our children have received from the billions spent on genetic research? Or should we work to stop the numbers that are now at 1 IN 100 CHILDREN?

Should we falsely agree that the rise in rates is only due to better diagnosis, when we know our kids weren’t smearing poop 30 years ago & banging their heads 30 years ago & flapping their hands 30 years ago & unable to speak 30 years ago & unable to point to an object 30 years ago & unable to bathe & wipe & feed themselves & stay safe 30 years ago - only to go unnoticed?

Or should we worry today about how the autism community is overwhelmed & under-resourced and how the swine flu’s nonexistent pandemic is receiving overreaction & “fast tracked” focus while autism’s already-existent epidemic gets slow-tracked solutions and profound under-reaction?

OR, PRESIDENT OBAMA,
should we just think about going to bed tonight HOPING TO GOD
we’ll wake up tomorrow to find that someone finally is declaring autism
A NATIONAL HEALTH CRISIS
A NATIONAL EMERGENCY
A NATIONAL EPIDEMIC?
and that finally someone is saying, enough is enough, let’s get some answers, let’s give some aid, let’s figure this out BEFORE IT’S 1 IN 20 CHILDREN?

Or should we just let every American eventually find out for themselves how bad it really is?

How much longer, President Obama, will we wake up overwhelmed by which issue to tackle first?

How much longer, President Obama, do we have before the hope for America’s children fades completely?

HOW MUCH LONGER?

Goodnight.