I Can't Imagine Life Without My Beautiful Autistic Toby ; As the Prospect of Prenatal Screening for Autism Moves Closer, One Mother Tells of the Joy She Derives From Her Son and Her Campaign to Help Other Young People Like Him

Evening Standard - London › January 13, 2009

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Summary

WEST END producer Katharine Dore is telling me about the day she discovered her three-year-old son Toby was profoundly autistic. "He'd been a relatively normal baby but seemed slow.

Then he began to regress rapidly to the point where he had almost no communication with the outside world." Not only do you feel pain, loss and confusion at the initial diagnosis, she says, you can be consumed by anger at a system that seemingly devalues you and your child with special needs. "Your child is isolated by autism and you, too, feel very alone."

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I Can't Imagine Life Without My Beautiful Autistic Toby ; As the Prospect of Prenatal Screening for Autism Moves Closer, One Mother Tells of the Joy She Derives From Her Son and Her Campaign to Help Other Young People Like Him

Yesterday new research brought the prospect of prenatal testing for autism significantly closer, potentially allowing women to terminate babies with the condition. For Katharine, this is hugely controversial. "Toby is exactly the sort of child they would plan to abort," she says, "and just look at the great life he has. It's about understanding what is a full life to that person. If we get ri...

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