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FINALLY

By Brett Schaffran

At 34 I spoke my first word. I am a speller, and my name is Brett Schaffran. All my life there was the desire to speak: but my mouth doesn’t listen to my brain. For a long time I believed I might one day be able to, but when I realized that would never happen, I despaired. Almost all of us are seen by the world as incapable. But given the right supports, we are very capable indeed.

My life has changed so much in the past year. Feelings of joy are now the norm for me, rather than the exception. My dream of talking has come true…and I want to finally be heard.

9/30/2024 0 Comments

Autisms?

I am sitting here today in Judy’s office and with me is my friend of twenty-eight years, Max. Max is also my housemate. Max and I met at school when we were little. The school was ABA based, and it was terrible for me. ABA didn’t work for me as my issues are purely motor based. But I couldn’t talk and Max could because his issues are different from mine. So he decided that we were friends, and undertook speaking for me. Knowing now about nonspeaking people doesn’t mean much to him because of his issues. He just sees me as Brett, his friend. I am ok with that because I understand that he cannot understand this.

What gets on my every last nerve is the term low-functioning being applied to me as if I can’t understand things just because I can’t speak. I am not low-functioning, and I am sick of that terminology.

Getting to the point: all of us are diagnosed with autism and that is a problem. They call it a spectrum to get away with it. But I cry bullshit. My issues in no way resemble Max’s…and I am tired of being misunderstood. He is my friend and always will be. But what we have, in terms of disabilities, is in no way the same. The world needs to understand that.

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9/23/2024 1 Comment

Panic

The insistence on sameness by so many of us has been on my mind. I believe it has to do with anxiety and the need to control things. The world can be overwhelming for us, for so many reasons. We hear, see and feel more than ordinary people. Sometimes it can be hard to bear, and we act like we are crazy.

Over the weekend we went out for dinner with friends, and I flipped. I’m mortified now, of course, but at that moment I didn’t care what I looked like. I became distraught for no real reason. If I had to give it a name, I’d call it a panic, because my heart is beating out of my chest, and it feels like I can’t breathe. When it happens I’m always embarrassed, but I can't actually stop it from happening. It feels worse than I can describe.

Really, I’ve come to believe that in an attempt to try to prevent it, we try to prevent anything that could potentially set it off. That is my personal belief anyway. So let us have the chance to tidy up, or to close doors, or to push chairs into the table. It helps to keep us calm. We need all the help we can get.

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9/9/2024 3 Comments

Lessons From the Jets

Today is opening day of the Jets season. Over the years I’ve learned a lot from the errors of my beloved losers. Firstly, it’s important to have a hard-hitting offense line. Definitely the best defense is a good offense, so don’t expect to score if your offensive line cannot protect your quarterback and open up holes for your running backs. My parents are my offensive line that allow me to score by protecting me…and they open up holes that allow me to fly through.

The second lesson I’ve learned is to have an offensive coordinator who is imaginative and does the unexpected. Let’s face facts: no one knows how to cure autism. Doing the same things over and over, no matter what, is the height of idiocy. I am sitting here writing this because my parents learned to vary the playbook. And they learned that few things they’d tried to help me actually had.
Finally, the importance of a good draft cannot be underestimated. One of the most famous mistakes in Jets history is picking Kyle Brady and not picking Warren Sapp. Warren Sapp went to the Hall of Fame: no one ever heard of Kyle Brady. Anyway, the point I am making is that to win, you need a winning team. Picking the Kyle Bradys of the world won’t make you a winner. So pick the Warren Sapps, like Judy. Awkward to say but…I’ve had a lot of Kyle Bradys in my life.

Let’s hope the Jets have learned some lessons too. I am hoping for a great season for both of us.