How much worse could it be?

Quite a bit worse, it turns out.

Sometimes it's pretty easy to feel sorry for yourself. We just had a fall-out-of-the-sky $900 vet bill, I'm not so thrilled with being fourty-seven today and a little extra sleep would be nice.

Then a little perspective comes and I'm left thinking how lucky I am. Zakh Price's story makes me feel that way. Here's a short YouTube that will fill you in:



Basically you've got a school system that knows nothing about autism mistreating a 5th grade autistic child until he explodes and then charging him with a felony. There's past institutionalization and threats of future incarceration - things that makes me shudder just to think about. It's horrible beyond belief but I can totally identify. Clearly legal council is needed and that's why the family is asking for help.

Having an autistic child can make you worry, especially when you're in Baltimore City public schools - not know for excellent education in general and specifically under a court order for special education problems. But honestly, I can't imagine anything this bad happening here. I'm lucky I'm not asking for this type of help and I'm lucky I can afford to pitch in. I hope some readers of this blog can do the same.

You can go to this webpage for more information. There's also a gadget to let you contribute to the cause as I did today. There's a good summary here and a more detailed account here. Whether or not you pitch in you can send an email here.