Appeal for Abu Sinan’s autistic son
Brother Abu Sinan, who some of you may remember as a regular on Umar Lee’s blog, has appealed for help as he needs treatment for his autistic son, Sinan, which is starting to get expensive as medical insurance does not cover the only effective treatment:
We took our little Sinan to the Children’s National Medical Center here in Washington DC. This first experience taught us a lot of what to expect in the future. Due to the shortage of professionals to treat children with Autism it took us six months to get an appointment. Once we did get the appointment for an initial evaluation, it was done over two separate sessions at the Children’s National Medical Center. Limits in the number of people able to give care are a huge issue, so are the costs.. We eventually got a diagnosis for Sinan of Autism with PDD.
Needless to say even with insurance, the out-of-pocket costs for getting the necessary tests are highly expensive. A series of blood tests ordered for Sinan cost more than $4,000. Every specialist you see has to evaluate the child and these charges run around $1,000 each time as well. We were then referred to a neurologist who specializes with autistic children. We were directed to have a set of blood tests performed to rule out any other possible issues and then given an appointment for a MRI to be administered.
Our out-of-pocket costs just keep building and building. The real kicker is that the only therapy shown to have a positive impact on kids with Autism is called “ABA” or Applied Behavior Analysis. The irony is that there is a glimmer of hope for austistic children with ABA therapy yet the majoriy of insurance companies will not cover this treatment. There are a few states which mandate ABA coverage by law, but not many and unfortunately our state is among those which does not.
You can donate via the PayPal button on Abu Sinan’s blog. Also, please see sister Fairuza’s (AKA Sabiwabi’s) article on the same subject.
Also I would like to draw attention to this post on the Scottish-Islamic Foundation’s blog. It’s about Imran Sabir (you can read his story here, which was written before he died in March 2009), who founded Ethnic Enable, an organisation which supports people of ethnic minorities with disabilities in the Glasgow area, and Kitaba, which furthers educational opportunities for visually impaired Muslims, by means of translating books and working to improve accessibility in religious institutions and by educating religious leaders. Kitaba launched a book, Living with Blindness: Lessons from the Life of Imran Sabir, on 4th October, written by Abdul-Aziz Fredericks and with a foreword by Zaid Shakir; you can order it (£5.95 + P&P) here. The blog post also includes a moving poem, A Disabled Society, about the rejection often faced by disabled people in South Asian families.
Possibly Related Posts:
- Women need the mosque
- Tories show their repressive side with ban on HT
- On the Daniel Jou “virginity test” controversy
- Rosie Jones: Am I a Ret*rd, reviewed
- What is ‘snitching’? When is it bad?
