Vineyards in Barossa Valley, Australia
If there is one type of community that is at great risk of being denied services for neurodiverse/disabled families on a daily basis, it would have rural communities that is miles or even hundreds of miles away from a support service.
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A playset backs up to a field at a home daycare in Madrid, Iowa on Thursday, January 19, 2017. KC McGinnis for Spectrum
I bring this up because some of my followers on social media are neurodiverse/disabled families that live in rural areas of the United States or for that matter, the entire world, that are miles away from a support service. This is concerning because some families would need to drive 2 or even 3 hours or more to get the support that they need.
Furthermore, the living situation of the neurodiverse/disabled family may be next to impossible. Take for example a family that lives up in the mountains of lets say, Montana and the nearest support center is in Billings. The child is severely autistic and desperately needs support, but he or she is destructive and a Zoom meeting is out of the question because:
A) the child is destructive and would more than likely destroy the computer or laptop
B) The family cannot afford to travel all the way to Billings both mentally and physically.
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The best solution is for technicians and medical professionals to do old fashioned house calls where they come to the house and bring their services directly to the family in the rural area.
In the old days, medical professionals would do house calls all the time because it’s easier for the patient and his or her family. In other words, it should still be around and not abandoned all together. The other issue with house calls is that nowadays, its only for the elderly and the dying.
This is not true and offering house call services for neurodiverse/disabled families is a way of not only making things easier for the family and the neurodiverse/disabled individual, but also promotes Diversity, Equality and Inclusion in the medical field.
As an example, check out perhaps one of the more famous examples of a doctor’s house call in the “Bear in the Big Blue House” episode, “The Big Blue Housecall.”
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Another reason why I am writing this particular blog is on a personal level.
My youngest niece has possible delayed speech and language development and the nearest help she would get to help is in Roanoke, which is about 20 to 30 minutes from her home in Goodview, VA.
As I said in the beginning of this blog, there are so many families in the United States and around the globe who are in similar situations and I believe that if services are expanded to house calls, you are making things easier for the family and the individual at the same time.
Take for example, you could have a hillbilly family that live in the hills with a neurodiverse/disabled family member and they know nothing about the services that are offered. It’s up to them, but some medical professionals and technicians could leave such an impact on them that they would be willing to sacrifice their previous home life and move to the big city where all the services are there for them.
Such a eureka moment happened for one family for example:
Now, as you watch the clip, look at how Jed Clampett (Buddy Ebsen) reacts to the “Black Gold, Texas Tea” coming out. Pretend that he is the parent of a neurodiverse/disabled individual, and that oil is like a service for his child. He has no other options, so he decides to sell his home and move to Los Angeles where the services he is longing for are there for him.
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The fact of the matter is that as the ratio of an autism diagnosis is now 1 in 44, the time has come for more support services to be expanded just beyond the in-office visit. The sooner services are expanded, the better that Diversity, Equality and Inclusion is represented for rural families affected by neurodiversity/disability.
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Catch you all later!!
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