Living with Alzheimer’s While Raising Autism
A medical diagnosis, of any kind, can be life-altering. A life that once offered some measure of stability would now be forever changed. In 2005, our family received two blows to our way of living. That April, my son was diagnosed with autism, and a few months later, my grandmother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. What is very interesting about the two disorders is they both affect a person’s neurodevelopment; however, the affects are experienced at the opposite ends of a person’s life. While autism affects the youth and how they interact with the world, Alzheimer’s typically affects the elderly (over 65) and, ultimately, their interaction with the world outside.