I took a number of photographs on the boardwalk on Coney Island, NY in the 1990s. I remember it was cold the day I took the picture below. I love the ambiguity.
Boardwalk, Coney Island USA circa 1990
Another Boardwalk Picture
Brotherly Love
A personal exploration of autism from a brother’s perspective, including family relationships, philosophy, neuroscience, mental health history and ethics
Hi Cousin Jack,
My sister told me about a blog you were writing and I just started to read the posts..
Thank you for writing your stories I appreciate your candid thoughts and feelings. I never met Micheal or I just cannot remember him for some reason, I guess I was too young; maybe I did meet him? What I do remember is your family coming to our home after you visited him in Staten Island and I listened to your parents discuss the visit. They were always so positive and I guess I just did not understand the situation. My parents never talked about it, but I think my mom said he couldn’t communicate and your parents could not take care of him at home. I imagined a really nice school in Staten Island, but my fantasy was changed when I saw the news reports regarding Willowbrook and what was going on in that institution. Seeing the inside of Willowbrook on television was very disturbing, but my family did not talk about it, too overwhelming. The news reports depicted how certain children acted and I always wondered what did you see when you went to visit Micheal.
As an adult I sometimes look back on those days and I feel bad that I didn’t ask more questions. Since autism wasn’t fully understood during the time we were growing up, I guess it was one of the reasons it wasn’t discussed in my home. Michael was lucky to have the support of your family.
I appreciate you writing the stories about growing up with Micheal. It just answers a lot of the questions I never got to ask.
Love
Cousin Donna
Thank you, Donna. So glad you found the blog. I remember going to your place after visiting with Mike. Don’t remember the positive talk, though. Go figure. It’s so nice to fill in the blanks for me as well.
Hope all is well with you and the family.
Love,
Jack