As I sit in my family room, looking out at the smokey, orange skies of the San Francisco Bay Area, I can’t help but think about my child with special needs.
It has been 8 months since we have been stuck at home due to COVID. This morning, September 9, 2020, at 11 am, when I woke up, it looked like dawn. When I drew open my bedroom curtains, I saw the sky in bright orange color. I had never seen anything like it before.
I quickly looked at the weather on Google it said that the clouds covered the smoke which traveled during the night and will eventually open up the skies around 5 pm. I then looked up the weather in Cloverdale, CA. It was 81 degrees with clear blue skies! I was comforted that my daughter, Siri would be moving there soon, in early 2021.
As a parent of an Autistic child, I worry about her future. 180,000 adults live at home with their parents. Siri, a 27-year-old young lady lives with us, her parents, and her two younger brothers at home.
About 90 miles away from San Francisco is Cloverdale, in a small town in the beautiful Sonoma County, rests Clearwater Ranch. Their mission is to provide life-long housing and community that empowers developmentally disabled adults to live their lives to the fullest potential with dignity, purpose, and joy. What a comforting feeling.
Our family along with a few other like-minded families are working actively, partnering with a non-profit, Living Unlimited, to design, develop and implement a life-long housing solution for our loved ones with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
So as the skies burn, I think about the future. The future of my daughter, of disabled people, of seniors, and of myself. I have committed my time and my life to securing my children’s future. Have you?
Swathi Chettipally is a devoted mother and an Autism advocate. Find more about her work with Siri on Pinterest, Instagram, and Youtube.