At the age of 3, my son Eli was diagnosed with PDD-NOS, which is a "mild form" of autism. Although his condition is not as severe as those on the other end of the autism spectrum, he definitely has challenges (mostly in the realm of social skills with peers and language) that we are helping him overcome. The great thing is that he has deinitely made a lot of progress since his diagnosis (he is now 4 and a half).
Having a child on the autism spectrum has really been a life-altering experience for my wife and me. We are now part of a community of parents, professionals, organizations, and concerned individuals who are addressing the varied needs of those living with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs). For the second year in a row, we are participating in the Walk Now For Autism to help raise money for autism research.
My wife is one of the captains for our walk team and this year she asked me if I could put together a web site for the team. She needed a site that she could easily update with information on the team's activities. Although I could've coded a simple CMS, I found that Mango Blog (which I use for this blog) was perfect for this. Mango already has CMS functionality built-in, but then Laura released a plugin that let's you choose a page other than the blog page as the home page of the site. This really gave me a lot of flexibility, as I could create my own home page and use the blog functionality for "news articles." Another area in which Mango really shines is skinning. I was able to easily skin the site with my own design (maybe someday I'll actually find the time to skin this blog!). I also put a forum on the site and used Bobby Hartsfield's CF4em software, which was also pretty easy to set up and configure and looks really nice. I found a few bugs -- most are case-sensitivity issues which probably popped up because I run on Linux and the software was probably developed on Windows. It IS still in beta, so the bugs weren't unexpected and I submitted them to the CF4em bug tracker.
Overall I'm pleased with the results, specially considering how quickly I was able to get a content-managed site up. My wife and the rest of the walk team are also quite happy. If anyone wants to take a look, here is the site (I know the design won't knock anyone's socks off, but it serves the purpose). Also, if anyone wants to know more about why I'm walking and/or is feeling generous, you can visit my page on the official Walk site. Thanks a lot to Laura Arguello and Bobby Hartsfield for letting me use their software!
Jul 22, 2008 at 10:16 AM Great work Tony
Jul 22, 2008 at 1:40 PM Hey Tony. It's good to know that there are loving, committed parents like you out there. I believe you will help make a difference for Eli and others.
Like a lot of people I grew up unaware of autism, only to discover in the past year or so that I am autistic. There's not much statistical information about it yet honestly, but the information we have suggests that we're about 20x more likely to be bullied in school and about 50x more likely to commit suicide.
Even now at age 33, just responding to this blog is painfully difficult for me, like so many other social activities, because of my past experiences.
I know that with your help, things can be different for Eli and I'm grateful for that. :)
Jul 23, 2008 at 5:16 AM Thanks Ike. A very important issue for us is to increase the general awareness about ASDs, dispel the myths, and encourage the acceptance of the "non-typical" so that we can hopefully have an effect on those stats you mentioned.