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People call the police on me for being a blind mom with an autistic child
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Autistic kids need someone who can watch them closely. What if he runs
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I feel bad that he has to grow up like this. He needs a normal environment
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I get a lot of stares or I think she's faking it
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Do you have any concerns of doubts about your ability to be a parent as a blind single mom
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I am a single mom with an autistic son and I am legally visually impaired
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It's open. It's open already. Here, here. I have a rare eye disease called keratoconus
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and I have some vision which I only can see color. I cannot see shapes or details. These are when I
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need to push for buttons to like know what's what different shapes. I even have these labels here on my
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stove too so I know and these buttons are really sensitive so I gotta be careful when I push buttons
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As far as cooking goes it does get difficult that's why I usually keep a timer on
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If that doesn't happen my hands are gonna get burned. I have a lot of burns
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and it's over my hands. Let's start with the story of your son
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One day I was driving and I was like, man, I'm having a really hard time
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seeing everything just look so blurry to me. And then that's when the eye doctor was just so amazed
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He was like, you have this kind of eye disease. He's like, I never came across
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You need to go and see a specialist now. I was scared. They told me by the time I was 30
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that I would be totally blind. How much are you able to see
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It's like being a drunk person. Like when you see the movies, how they have like double to like triple vision, and it's
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just like really blurry. Is anything that you find difficult to get in the kitchen
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The seasonings is the one that really takes me out. When they're all over the place, then I'm like, okay, which ones which that I have to
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pull out my phone. I'm over here trying to scan barcodes and be like, while it's reading it to me, be like
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and be like, okay, which one do I need? Which one do I need? And then my son's like, if he's stimming and making noise
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it makes it even 10 times worse. My son is Ollie. He's five years old
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He goes by Sonic. And he is autistic and severely ADHD. Hello
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Good morning How are you I playing my game Come on it time to get up What
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What were your emotions when you found out that you were going to get around
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What I've, oh my goodness! I prayed to God for a little one and I was just like
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I think I need a drink. Do you have any concerns of the ability to be a parent
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even as a plain single mom? No. Show me your special bed
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It's a special needs bed. So therefore, to keep him in and safe at night
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I can zip him in. How would you describe your parent as that
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I would say I'm very hands on. Don't look at me like that
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When he was younger, I got him some knees and elbow pads
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and I sewn bells to them. So every time when he was whipping around down on the floor
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I would hear chingling, ling, ling, ling, ling, ling, ching, ling, ling, ling, ling
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So I knew where he was, so I wouldn't accidentally step on him
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Let me get you ready, and we can get you something for breakfast. What would you like
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No. Want some cereal? I can do cereal. It's okay. Come on
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Listen, how about I make a deal? I give you cereal and you can have that after for a snack
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What do you think? Good. Good. We're very outspoken about our feelings
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People like to say he has big emotions. Is your mom fun or a trick
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Am I fun or am I mean? Fun. I'm fun. I want to teach him to be more independent because I know as time go on my sight will get less and less
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As long as I don't step on him that's fine by me. Here's something else kid
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I learned about his autism when he was about like a year and a half
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So what do you think that we're going to do today? numbers since we're learning about colors still
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I need your table. I noticed signs. When he even got angry, he would bang his head on the floor
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and I was just like, I didn't understand none of it. When I found out, like, everything about it
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I stopped and I just bawled my eyes off I wasn crying because of him I was crying because I like man I over here
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I know I'm losing my sight. And then now I have to literally sit here and deal with a child that I know that needs way more than I knew that I could offer
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You ready? Come on, let's get ready for today. But after I found out about his whole diagnosis, first thing I did was, okay, so what's next
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What do I need to do? Somebody's at the door. Let's go. Who's there? Who's here to see you
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Are you ready to play? Are you ready to play? Yes. Oh, good job
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All right, let's go. The reason why I decided to homeschool Ollie, there's no other schools that's local around here
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that were like private that would accept him because they were like, oh, because of his challenges
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we don't have the right equipment or assessments for him. Okay, buddy, just slow down. This is a fun painting activity
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Okay, so you're painting the bear. I'm a behavior yst, so I've been working with him for almost two years now
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I come here a few times a week, but I'm here to help teach more
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communication. How does being a blind parent of a child with a specialist
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make communication more difficult? Ali was not speaking when he was a little younger
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so that was hard. I don't know what you want or what you're trying to do
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You need to come closer so I can see or feel what you're doing. We use feel, touching
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We use every type of way of communication as much possible. Just one, and then we're going to do it
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And we're going to do Braille, and then you can do another one. Come on. I can't get a number
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Yes, after we do braille. Come on. Can you make this number for me? Zero
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Is it possible that Ali would develop the same position as you
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Yes, it is possible. That is one of the main reasons why I decided to teach Ali braille
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If he does inherit my eye disease, he would be already ahead of the game
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And plus, this is like another language. You're going to have some screen time
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OK, can you help me clean up first? I need to eat a cookie
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You don't forget about the cookies, do you? What sort of judgment have you received
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in relation of being a blind mom? I get a lot of stares or I think she faking it And the one pet peeve that I really hate that people really do they come up to me and start waving their hands in my face like this The online comments that I get was like
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Autistic kids need someone who can watch them closely. What if he rides
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I go with my son, I ride with him with precautions. There are harnesses that you can use
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I feel bad that he has to grow up like this. He needs a normal environment
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his environment to me is beyond more than what some kids can even imagine i mean like
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he to me i feel like he lives one of the best life one of the best wives i'm kind of jealous
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tell us about the time that someone called the police on you
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we were walking out of a doctor's office he was standing in front of me and i had my cane
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in front of him. So when I was weaving back side to side, right to left, it seemed as if like I was
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hitting him with it. And also he was giving that gesture, like pulling, yanking from me because
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he's like, I want to run. A police officer just literally stopped his car and he was like, excuse
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me, ma'am. Can I talk to you for a minute? I got a call that you were beating a kid, a child with a
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a stick and I'm like, but I'm blind and I'm just trying to get my son to a doctor's appointment
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And he felt so bad. He didn't even know what to say. The judgments really don't break me. It pushes
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me to even want to go harder as a better parent. Good girl. That's my good girl. For other parents
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who are in my shoes. I would say live your best life with you and your little one
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Always think outside the box. Don't limit yourself to certain things. That's one thing that I would say to all... Woo
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Woo! I don't know what the future holds for us, but all I know, I'm excited
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This journey with him has been wonderful. I've learned a lot about myself
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I walk by faith and not by sight. I don't know what's coming up next, but I refuse to live in fear
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I just can't wait to see what else is coming for us
