Last Sunday, my life changed.
There wasn't much on TV so I turned to CSPAN. I'm not much of a C-SPAN fan but a hearing on autism was taking place and I wanted to see what was going on.
As everyone knows, the debate about funding for autism research is HUGE. Not only the funding but the provision and future of children who have autism. How are we, as a country, preparing to train and care for these children who will soon be adults? How are we supporting the families dealing with autism? The questions are numerous and while most of the hearing was about requests for funding, research and support, one of the speakers said something that completely astounded me: families dealing with autism have over an 85% divorce rate.
I'm a predivorce strategist and I work with clients daily on developing pre-divorce exit plans, scenarios, and everything leading up to making the final decision of whether to stay or go. So when I heard that there's an OVER 85% divorce rate among families with autism, it blew me away... and it changed my life.
I did my research. I looked for books on autism and divorce. I went to Amazon.com. NADA, nothing, no books talking about this all important issue.
Divorce is hard enough by itself but I couldn't imagine going through a divorce when dealing with autism. So now I'm on a mission. I'm going to write a book on autism and divorce, not promoting divorce but promoting the support, strategy, and coping strategies that any family dealing with autism need not only to survive together but to thrive together. If you know any married couple (happily or unhappily married) who have children with autism and they'd be willing to interview with me, please let me know. My goal is to interview over 500 couples for the book.
My new calling came to me on a Sunday from C-SPAN. It's amazing how God works...
If you'd like to interview with me, send me an email at thepredivorcestrategist@gmail.com
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