Autism Killed My Brother

Tom Jacibons

• 04 mei 2016
• 9781533095251

Samenvatting:

Tom shares how untreated autism killed his brother. Autism affects all of us in different ways and no two people are the same. Tom's brother Seth struggled with autism because he wanted to be neurotypical. Tom never desired to be neurotypcial and embraced his autism. He tried to get Seth to embrace his autism and do the same thing but Seth was too far gone and sick. Seth needed a lot of help.Seth tried to get help with social skills coaching only to find out that insurance would not cover it because there was no scientific evidence that it worked. Seth was furious that the insurance industry would treat him and others with autism like they were science experiments. He wrote a lot of letters to politicians and even to the president about why he needed social skills coaching and yet not one person was able to simply reply to his emails. Seth felt even more discouraged that no one would listen to him and he became very agitated and ended up killing himself.Seth met and fell in love with one woman in 2006. She was his everything for three weeks until she decided that she did not like him and sent him a text telling him that it was over and she was not interested any more. I think that experience is what eventually led to Seth's suicide. It is very important to raise awareness about suicide and autism. There is a higher risk of suicide among adults with autism than their neurotypical counterparts. It is not surprising that due to the social isolation and loneliness that a person with autism would commit suicide. Seth was a great brother and friend. It saddens me that he lost his battle with autism. While I do not see having autism as being a battle because it is a part of who I am I know that Seth had a very difficult time accepting his autism and loving himself for who he is. Because of this he took his life leaving myself and my parents behind to cope wondering what else we could have done to help him. Here is an excerpt from the book."Samantha was only in the relationship to take advantage of someone who did not know any better. She kept telling Seth if he bought her things she would take care of him and provide for him. Seth had never had a relationship and did not realize that you did not have to buy people things in order to get them to like you. Seth had no idea he was being taken advantage of and since he did not tell everyone what was going on no one was able stop him or help him.Seth spent three weeks dating this woman and spent over $4,000.00 on her. Samantha did not even like Seth and was just using him. Imagine being Seth and finding out the woman you love does not love you nor does she care about you. How would that make you feel? It would turn out that Samantha was actually engaged to be married and her wedding was called off by the groom at the last minute. She was only looking for a rebound relationship but Seth was looking to get married and sweep her off her feet."