At the time that I am posting this, just 14 states madate insurance coverage for Speech Therapy for Autistics. In the rest, there is basically no coverage at all. The good news is that all but 5 have some form of insurance reform pending that would address this. In the meantime however, families are left to face this financially crippling burden alone. To learn more, and to find out out you can help, go to: http://www.autismvotes.org/. This legislation is critically important, but faces stiff opposition from the insurance lobby who have tried to block it at every turn. These laws cannot be passed quickly enough, and it is obscene that it has taken this long, considering the proven treatments available, and the consequences of doing nothing.
(putting away the political soapbox)
"Dad" and "Mom" are recurring charecters based on me and my wife. The doctor in the second panel is not, and really doesn't resemble the doctor that actually diagnosed Michael anyway. But I decided to change what SHE looked like here, because in actuality she looked a lot like "Becky" (the speech thrapist in the third panel and another recurrig, albeit minor, charecter also making her first appearance in the inaugural issue) and I didn't want anyone to be confused or think they were the same person. Also, Becky, while based on an actual person, is really meant to represent ALL of the therapists that have worked with Michael and Jacob over the years. Unfortunately, so little of the comics takes place in therapy, so I don't really need more than one therapist charecter.
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