Meet Dante

While enjoying raising our very high energy, two year old daughter, we were anticipating the birth of our second baby. We decided to not get the amniocentesis test done even though my doctor recommended it and on May 25th, 1998, our son, Dante was born with down syndrome. After the initial disappointment we realized what a blessing Dante is and we had high hopes that we could help make Dante’s life as fulfilling as possible. We began early intervention at 3 months old, by 18 months old Dante was reading 15 words, making animal sounds and most importantly he was interacting with eye contact and laughing with us. At Dante’s 18 month well visit, he received three vaccinations. By the time we got home from the doctor appointment he was extremely lethargic and could not even sit up. The doctor recommended Tylenol and said he would be better in a few days…That was not the case for Dante, he continued to regress over the next year. At 21 months Dante was diagnosed with autism. Throughout the years we have tried many therapies, including special diets, supplements, homeopathy, light and sound therapy, sensory therapies and many more. Some therapies helped and now we feel blessed to at least get some eye contact and even smiles on occasion but since receiving his 18-month vaccinations on January 6th, 2000, Dante has not spoken a word and has only a handful of activities that he enjoys.

Dante is now 25 years old, nonverbal and in diapers, he is often very aggressive, and he will harm himself and his caregivers. As we age it is much tougher to physically care for him. Dante has one more year that he can go to school and after that he is far down the line on multiple waiting lists for day programs. The state of Michigan is one of the few states who offer schooling up to the age of 26 but that is changing quickly, Oakland County schools is already making plans to cut most of their services to those individuals who are over 21 years in the next few years. While there are good options for work programs and living situations for special needs adults, there is not much available for very low functioning adults that are still in diapers. We are working with other families in the same situation, searching for living options for this population, and the need is going to expand significantly in the coming years.

According to the CDC the rate of autism in 2000 was 1 in 150 and in 2020 it was 1 in 36. Dante was diagnosed at the beginning of what I call the autism boom, in the coming 10 years we are going to have many more special needs adults in need. Now is the time to start developing programs and permanent housing solutions that will meet and hopefully exceed the needs of the population of low functioning adults with special needs.