Welcome to the Autism, ADHD podcast. I am so happy that you join me today. I want to take a moment and ask for your help. Please take just a second and give the podcast a five-star review. This will help me continue the podcast and keep bringing you helpful

information. Thanks so much again for taking the time to give that five-star review. Now let's get

started. Today, I'm going to be talking about fears of parents with neurodivergent kids. So I'm going to be

really vulnerable in this episode and talking about my own fears as a mom of two kids, one with

autism and ADHD, the other with ADHD and some other needs.

So last week, my oldest son who was autistic and had severe ADHD, wanted to go see

his grandparents for spring break. So I arranged everything. I called the airlines ahead of time,

got everything together with his accommodations,

the escort, the gate pass, the pre-boarding, all of the things.

And I was confident that it was going to go smoothly for him.

I wanted to make sure that I put in support so he felt less anxious.

So we get to the airport, check in, and then requested the

escort. And no escort came. Ten minutes later, there's no escort. So I went up to the desk,

waited in line again, and asked for the escort. No escort came. Again, 15 minutes later,

no escort came. This happened a few more times and eventually I was kind of at the end of my

rope and said, okay, somebody is going to escort him because he is going to miss his flight.

They all kind of came together and decided which one of them, I guess, was going to escort my son.

So I told this, gentleman, you need to provide step-by-step instructions, tell him what's going to happen before it happens.

And then my anxiety started coming down again. Where the issue came in is,

apparently there was an employee who kind of poked their head out, maybe didn't see somebody who

looked like they were in need of a wheelchair because apparently for this person, disability equals wheelchair, which we all know is a common problem.

So maybe what I will do is a training for airlines.

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