Tracy's Writings
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“I implore you to see the inhumanity in cutting our services.”
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Tracy Thresher, Self Advocate Supporting the Right to Communicate for people with Significant Disabilities |
I am feeling very sad to think that my services may be affected by cuts. It is vitally important for me to have the assistance of my current support system. Without facilitators, my life is dismal and bleak. I would end up in a crisis situation which is more costly. The importance of good facilitators cannot be overemphasized. I have been successful due to the effectiveness of my supports. They know me best and stick by me no matter how difficult the road. The thing that surprises me is they do it with low wages and little help from government finances. What I mean by that is, while road construction is important, I feel we need to consider the folks who do not have communication or homes. The grim reality is we have people who have no support with mental health needs who are living on the street. It is not the Vermont way to be indifferent to such inhumanity. In closing, please listen to the individuals and families who need our help. Thanks for your kind consideration.
From September, 2010
I am Tracy Thresher a man with autism who moves sideways through the world. What that means is that my mind and body are not always connected or working together. Thinking about what I want to do and doing it is difficult if not impossible with my body taking over in auto-mode my brain shuts down. For example, I walk daily letting my body do its thing but my brain sleeps and I lose track of where I am having covered long distances. With typing to express myself I must really focus and pay close attention to what I am typing. Doing that while dealing with poor impulse control, lack of body part connectiveness, moving to the letters too hard, shifts in focus and sensory issues popping up like sounds and you can see why it’s nerve racking hard.
The hard thing about this is that people interpret my movement as intentional; the going-too-fast, hitting-too-hard, looking-away-when-spoken-to and even my limited, pesky speech patterns. That is extremely irritating! Going up the ladder of anxiety is a familiar course for me when I am on sensory overload and with lack of intentional movement I get stressed as well making it hard to think and communicate what’s going on. The important things for me are to walk and exercise daily, to rest in a quiet space, to do focused work with breaks, to have a purpose in life (mine is advocacy, education and training) and to be able to type with more than a few people.
Recently I completed a journey—the world tour film project with Harvey Lavoy, Pascal Cheng and Larry Bissonnette. That was the most awesome experience I have had going to Sri Lanka, Japan, and Finland. What potential for sensory overload, anxiety and meltdowns. Not so though. I had more relaxed time than anytime in my life. This is what I wanted to do more than anything in my life and that sense of purpose found its way into my movement helping me get through hours upon hours of flying, airports, security, customs and thousands of transitions.
Yes with having typing available during all of the trips I could make my needs, feelings and thoughts known to serious minded professors, not so serious minded film crew, likeable fellow typists dealing out witty statements and connecting with people of different cultures. I think the accommodation of communication helped me the most to regulate and maintain calmness showing the world my intelligence.
- Tracy Thresher
