Latest / Voices for Voices® / I’m a Single Dad Raising an Autistic Son, and It’s Beautiful | Episode 77
Transcript
- 0:00Justin Alan Hayes: Welcome to the Voices for Voices TV show and podcast sponsored by Redwood Living.
- 0:06Justin Alan Hayes: Thank you for joining us today.
- 0:08Justin Alan Hayes: I am Justin Alan Hayes, founder and executive director of Voices for Voices, host and humanitarian.
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- 2:31Justin Alan Hayes: Joining us in studio today is an individual who I was grateful and lucky to meet through LinkedIn and had some conversations back and forth and his story, what he does, his past experience and what's coming down the pike with continuing his service and mission I thought it was very important to share with our audience, our viewers or listeners, or if you're checking out our transcript.
- 3:04Justin Alan Hayes: So joining us in studio today is Rob Gorski, otherwise known as the Autism Dad.
- 3:10Justin Alan Hayes: He is a single dad raising three autistic children, and he has 21 years of experience of being a dad, many years of having a blog, podcast and also has been on national and international news media, sharing his story and his experiences to get the word out and, like us, will help as many people as possible.
- 3:40Justin Alan Hayes: So, rob, thank you for joining us today.
- 3:42Justin Alan Hayes: Thank you for having me.
- 3:43Justin Alan Hayes: Absolutely For those who may not know the Autism Dad what is that and where did that start?
- 3:55Rob Gorski: So it started back in 2010, about 2010.
- 3:58Rob Gorski: And the idea was that I was going to, I was struggling to kind of deal with my oldest.
- 4:08Rob Gorski: He was diagnosed in 2005 and I was struggling to deal with a lot of the behavioral things, like emotionally trying to deal with that.
- 4:14Rob Gorski: And so it was like starting to journal was kind of a thing and I don't do paper and pencils.
- 4:21Rob Gorski: So I was like I'll create a WordPress site, right, and then we totally private and no one will ever see it and I'll just be able to kind of like emotionally dump everything that I'm feeling into that.
- 4:31Rob Gorski: And I thought I could do that and then walk away from it and everything would be fine.
- 4:36Rob Gorski: It was kind of therapeutic for me, but it wasn't private and people found it and it started to kind of grow into this big thing and at the time there wasn't really anybody talking about this stuff back then, especially not publicly like that, and so I kind of found myself in a vacuum where there wasn't anyone else doing this, and so I was the one that people came to and I just found that parents found it validating and comforting and because people need that validation, they needed to know that they weren't alone.
- 5:13Rob Gorski: They needed to know that it's okay to feel and be overwhelmed and all those things that parents feel, and it just kind of grew, and I've been doing that since 2010 with the goal of just kind of helping light the path for the people who are coming after me.
- 5:30Justin Alan Hayes: Yeah.
- 5:30Justin Alan Hayes: So how does it make you feel so obviously there's a making, a living portion to what you do, but then also, as you mentioned, emotions tied to the work.
- 5:42Justin Alan Hayes: How do you think that, versus maybe, another career industry for you, makes things more validating at the end of the day?
- 5:51Justin Alan Hayes: Well, or?
- 5:53Rob Gorski: doesn't?
- 5:53Rob Gorski: Well, no, no, that's a good question.
- 5:56Rob Gorski: I used to be a fire medic, right, and so like my thing was helping people, like I needed that in my life and my kids got to a point where I needed to be home more often instead of out of town, out of town on shift, and when I gave that up I needed to find, I needed something to kind of fill that void.
- 6:18Rob Gorski: So I still felt like I was like contributing, you know, to the world in a positive way, and so, you know, doing this has allowed me to I mean, it helps myself to get through all this stuff I don't think I would have been able to do, I don't think I would have been able to make it through as much as I, or as well as I have, if I hadn't been doing this.
- 6:38Rob Gorski: I didn't have that outlet, but it is.
- 6:42Rob Gorski: I've been saying a lot.
- 6:43Rob Gorski: It's like purpose for the pain, right, like all the struggles and everything that I've been through, what my kids have been through, are helping other people to avoid them or navigate them, and so like, at the end of the day, there really isn't anything else I would rather be doing, and so there is a lot of satisfaction and it feels good to know that it's having a positive impact, and I've been around for a long time, so there's a need for it, you know, and it's a positive thing.
- 7:15Justin Alan Hayes: It is and, as you mentioned, you've been around for a long time.
- 7:19Justin Alan Hayes: So sometimes organizations come and go hot topics, hot trends, and you know, from average people to celebrities want to jump on certain topics.
- 7:31Justin Alan Hayes: And so the fact that you have been around and you are doing multiple things besides the writing how you mentioned, your now two podcasts going and then you share your voice and in your story with as many people.
- 7:48Rob Gorski: Yeah, and now, like with the podcast, I kind of burnt out on the writing because, like, if you go to the website or you go to my blog, there's like 14,000 posts in 14 years what, almost 14 years?
- 8:01Rob Gorski: And I was like I should do a podcast because I think it would be super easy to just like talk into a microphone and then just, but it's not.
- 8:09Rob Gorski: It's a lot of work, which I know, but it's a really cool way to connect with people.
- 8:16Rob Gorski: And, you know, one of the things that I really like doing now is giving other people a voice and so, you know, I'll bring parents on.
- 8:25Rob Gorski: That's sort of the biggest thing that I.
- 8:27Rob Gorski: My favorite thing to do is to bring parents on and just let them share their story.
- 8:30Rob Gorski: And, like we kind of talked about before we were recording, like I don't script anything, there's no outline, like I should probably have an outline but I don't, and I just have a conversation and we talk about what they've been through and what they're going through, and then, you know, the people listening a lot of times just feel validated because they're going through that same thing.
- 8:48Rob Gorski: And then the people who are sharing their story feel empowered Because you know they were able to, you know, talk about what they were going through and then know that it's helping other people and then it encourages other people to want to come on and do the same thing and it just sort of pays forward and it makes a difference.
- 9:06Rob Gorski: You know, I think it really helps a lot of people to hear and share Sure.
- 9:13Justin Alan Hayes: And we talked about the podcast.
- 9:14Justin Alan Hayes: What's the name that people can find?
- 9:16Justin Alan Hayes: Oh yeah.
- 9:17Rob Gorski: So 99% of everything is under the autism dad.
- 9:20Rob Gorski: Okay, and then the new podcast is called Special News Ohio Because, like, everything that I was doing before was everything with the autism dad wasn't like localized, it was more, was like anywhere, right, but I wanted to focus locally more and like connect with, like people in the community and like and help like connect parents with resources that are available.
- 9:45Rob Gorski: But you know, so that's, that's the newest, that's the newest, that's the newest endeavor Great.
- 9:56Justin Alan Hayes: So how is it being a dad, a single father, with three autistic children, for somebody that doesn't know at a high level?
- 10:05Rob Gorski: Yeah well, I don't know anything else, right?
- 10:08Rob Gorski: So I don't have any basis for comparison.
- 10:11Rob Gorski: I think it's definitely challenging.
- 10:15Rob Gorski: In my case, I've been doing it by myself for a while.
- 10:21Rob Gorski: My family is very supportive, so I have a support group like a network or your village or whatever you want to call it.
- 10:28Rob Gorski: But it's helped me become who I am, which I'm hoping is a good thing.
- 10:36Rob Gorski: I don't know, some people might say differently, but like you know seriousness, like our kids, when we go through this, it changes us as parents.
- 10:46Rob Gorski: Like we learn to appreciate things differently and focus on the things that I think a lot of people are too busy to pay attention to, sometimes just because it's not on their radar.
- 10:58Rob Gorski: And you know, like my kids have done amazing.
- 11:01Rob Gorski: They've overcome so many of the obstacles that they were told they would never overcome.
- 11:06Rob Gorski: And my oldest is 23.
- 11:09Rob Gorski: He just got his first job, which is super awesome.
- 11:13Rob Gorski: He was never supposed to be able to do anything like that.
- 11:15Rob Gorski: My youngest was never supposed to talk and he's on schedule to graduate high school, his sophomore year.
- 11:22Rob Gorski: Like he's just advanced in everything that he does and started talking at four and just never stopped.
- 11:29Rob Gorski: You know, when my 17-year-old just graduated two weeks ago, as a junior, you know, and so it's challenging, but it's the most rewarding thing that I've ever done and I don't know anything else.
- 11:45Rob Gorski: So you know, I mean I wouldn't do anything differently, like if I had a chance to go back and like I would go through it all again because it's totally worth it.
- 12:03Justin Alan Hayes: Yeah, and I think that, well, I don't think your children are human beings just like you and I are, and so they, like us, have similar needs.
- 12:16Justin Alan Hayes: And well, you and I, we grow at different paces, some faster, some a little bit slower.
- 12:24Justin Alan Hayes: And autism is a label or a term that's used, but it shouldn't put people in a box Like you said it shouldn't be like oh wait you're over here.
- 12:36Justin Alan Hayes: So, yeah, you're not going to be able to talk, you're not going to be able to graduate, You're not going to be able to be employed to do this type of work.
- 12:41Justin Alan Hayes: And, like you said, they're, they're excelling and there might be some out, some listeners, some viewers, that they might not, they might be a little behind, but to know that that is a possibility is huge.
- 12:54Rob Gorski: Yeah, and I think, just like on on that topic, I was just doing a.
- 12:58Rob Gorski: It was like it was Facebook live a couple days ago and we were talking about that.
- 13:01Rob Gorski: And we were talking about like the milestones thing.
- 13:05Rob Gorski: Right, Like how we feel like you should just like throw the milestones out the window, because if we're comparing, because they're designed to measure neurotypical, you know, growth and whatever, and if you don't fit that mold or you deviate from that at all, then those milestones are relatively meaningless.
- 13:23Rob Gorski: Yet we still like focus on that and and so a lot of parents get stressed out because like, oh, my kid's not talking yet, or he's not walking or whatever.
- 13:32Rob Gorski: And and I think it's so important that we we stop comparing our kids to other kids, even autistic kids or even siblings, and and kind of let them compete with themselves if that makes sense.
- 13:46Rob Gorski: So, like, when you want to measure progress, measure progress based on where they were versus where they are now.
- 13:51Rob Gorski: And I think that it's much easier to see progress when you, when you do that, and I think I think it's important that we we stop, like as parents, we stop and we turn around and like we look behind us, not to like dwell on stuff that we've been through, but.
- 14:08Rob Gorski: But sometimes we need to be able to see where we were in order to recognize, like, the progress we made and where we are now.
- 14:15Rob Gorski: And I just wanted to say that because I think a lot of parents kind of get hung up on the whole milestone thing and I think it's largely I mean, once you have a diagnosis, it's largely irrelevant.
- 14:27Rob Gorski: You know, everybody's going to move at their own pace.
- 14:29Rob Gorski: That's what actually triggered.
- 14:30Rob Gorski: That was the everybody was at their own pace, yeah.
- 14:33Justin Alan Hayes: And and you mentioned you, you've had support along the way and that's that's big, whether somebody is autistic or not, whether they're a parent like myself that has mental illness with depression, anxiety and low, low, low spectrum autism.
- 14:52Justin Alan Hayes: Lights and sounds really bother me, which makes this like, why am I here, like standing, but we're working, working through that.
- 15:04Justin Alan Hayes: But having that support is big, not just for the kids but for parents like you and I, and can you speak to that, that somebody out there that may or may not have that, that support of maybe some things that they could do to fill that away.
- 15:22Rob Gorski: I think one of the biggest we were just talking about this last night one of the biggest things, one of the biggest challenges, I think, is the way parents are introduced to a diagnosis, right.
- 15:32Rob Gorski: So your kid gets diagnosed, you get basically a piece of paper that tells you like OTPT, here's some numbers that you can call, and then it's, you're out the door, right.
- 15:40Rob Gorski: There's no, there's no discussion about like handling the emotional fallout from hearing something like that.
- 15:50Rob Gorski: And I think that one of the first things that parents should be like getting information-wise is like the importance of building that village, that supports system and how you can go about putting that stuff together and like the PT and the OT and therapists all those people are on that list right, like that's important, you got to have that.
- 16:10Rob Gorski: They're not there to like they're there in like a clinical capacity and not there when you can't sleep because you're stressed out, because your kids are being bullied at school or whatever the challenges that you're going through.
- 16:23Rob Gorski: And you have to have family, friends, people, especially like other parents who have autistic kids or kids who can relate to you on a level that other people can't, so that you can express what you're going through and you don't have to like explain it because they're just like I got it.
- 16:42Rob Gorski: You know it sucks.
- 16:43Rob Gorski: I'm sorry you're going through that and it is.
- 16:47Rob Gorski: I feel like we kind of don't talk about that enough.
- 16:54Rob Gorski: And then there's a lot of people out there who don't have family, that are supportive or single parents and have no help.
- 16:59Rob Gorski: I talk to people all the time and they're like you know, I'm a single mom or I'm a single dad.
- 17:03Rob Gorski: I have no family here, no friends, it's just me and my kid, and that's overwhelming, you know, and I don't know how you help people like that.
- 17:14Rob Gorski: But there should be we were talking like there should be like a parenting mentor program where you can you get connected with other parents who are willing to like help.
- 17:24Rob Gorski: You just get through that initial stage like of shock and like kind of wrapping your head around everything and just letting know that it's going to be okay.
- 17:31Rob Gorski: Here's what we're going to do and that's the first person that you can add, you know, to your village.
- 17:37Rob Gorski: But you know we don't do that enough, I don't think.
- 17:42Justin Alan Hayes: School.
- 17:42Justin Alan Hayes: Can you touch on the support that your children have received throughout school, Because I think that helps with how they've advanced.
- 17:53Justin Alan Hayes: They've been supportive to be able to let them go at their pace, let them.
- 18:01Rob Gorski: Yeah, they were in a charter school specifically for autistic kids, kids with ADHD and other learning disabilities and they, you know, they had IEPs for the first couple of years and the IEPs ended up dropping off because the supports that they needed were built into the curriculum on its own right.
- 18:19Rob Gorski: Everything was based on, like they based everything on martial arts, so the kids were learning like to control their bodies and, you know, respecting other people's boundaries and like all that kind of stuff that sometimes, you know, kids struggle with.
- 18:30Rob Gorski: And it was a really positive thing.
- 18:35Rob Gorski: And, you know, with my kids, my two oldest, there's a lot.
- 18:43Rob Gorski: They struggle more like emotionally, like there's a lot of sensory stuff it's like the lights, like you're talking about, like it probably not work out very well for some of them and a lot of anxiety, you know, and there's a lot of ADHD in my house.
- 19:00Rob Gorski: It's always lots of fun, but they have always just absorbed knowledge.
- 19:08Rob Gorski: So, like the education side of it, if they were in an environment that was conducive to that or supportive of that, then they just accelerated.
- 19:16Rob Gorski: And last year was the first year that they were actually like mainstreamed.
- 19:22Rob Gorski: And that was high school, you know.
- 19:26Rob Gorski: And my youngest his first year he earned enough credits that if he does the same thing, or even less his sophomore year, he can graduate or he can start doing college credits and stuff like that, and he's allowed to work at his own pace and he can do.
- 19:43Rob Gorski: You know, he can just keep going and he's not sort of when you're in a classroom the teachers have to teach that everybody can learn and which is the way that it has to be and it makes total sense.
- 19:57Rob Gorski: But having the ability to kind of go at your own pace is really a good thing, for my kids anyways.
- 20:07Justin Alan Hayes: And work you've done has touched people not just here in Northeast Ohio, but you've been able to speak with national and international media, so your experience or story is reaching and I think that's helpful because it normalizes us as humans that it's not just somebody in a certain area that potentially could be going through.
- 20:33Justin Alan Hayes: It doesn't know zip codes.
- 20:35Justin Alan Hayes: There could be people in Australia, in Italy, in the United States.
- 20:44Rob Gorski: There's readers for the blog.
- 20:45Rob Gorski: I used to track it because I thought it was really cool to see things pop up on the map.
- 20:49Rob Gorski: But every country and it doesn't matter where they're from the stories culturally there's cultural differences and whatever, and political differences in the way that healthcare is managed and how the processes go and stuff like that.
- 21:08Rob Gorski: Like that's different everywhere you go.
- 21:09Rob Gorski: But what parents are experiencing that fear, that anxiety, that all of that stuff?
- 21:17Rob Gorski: It doesn't matter what country they're in or zip code or whatever, because we're all feeling the same thing and it does kind of normalize it and it does bring it down to a more human level because when you remove all of the differences in our cultures, it's the same fundamental experience and it is, it is a there's, it's very connecting.
- 21:45Rob Gorski: I guess you know to know that everybody who goes through this is experiencing something similar and there's a lot of people out there who can relate and you know you're part of a community, even if you don't know that they're there.
- 21:57Rob Gorski: There's a huge, you know community all around the world of families raising autistic kids or you know kids with other disabilities, and you know, I think, that we just we kind of get stuck in our bubbles sometimes and we don't see the other people, and it's nice to have, you know, a platform that allows everybody to kind of find each other and connect, and it's a very cool thing.
- 22:25Justin Alan Hayes: Right.
- 22:26Justin Alan Hayes: So how can people learn more about you?
- 22:29Justin Alan Hayes: You touch on the podcast, the work that you're doing and things that they can follow and follow what you're doing and maybe be a part of it.
- 22:39Rob Gorski: Oh, yeah, for sure.
- 22:40Rob Gorski: Like I love sharing other people's stories, like the easiest way to find me is just to go to theautosanddadcom.
- 22:47Rob Gorski: All of the links and stuff are all there so you can find everything from there.
- 22:52Rob Gorski: But I love hearing from parents if they want to write a guest post or, you know, share their story on the podcast, it's.
- 23:00Rob Gorski: You know, I try and accommodate everybody.
- 23:04Rob Gorski: I think everybody's story matters and if I can help, you know, get your story out there and have your voice heard, then I think that's a good thing to do.
- 23:15Rob Gorski: You bet.
- 23:16Rob Gorski: And it's super easy.
- 23:17Rob Gorski: It really you just have a conversation, like we're just having a conversation.
- 23:21Justin Alan Hayes: Yeah, part of the hardest part is maybe the scheduling.
- 23:23Rob Gorski: Yeah, scheduling and then getting over like the nerves, because people are always nervous and it's like just you know we're just going to talk and cameras are off so we can see who we're talking to and that's it.
- 23:37Rob Gorski: But yeah, that's the easiest way.
- 23:43Justin Alan Hayes: Anything that we haven't touched on that you like to share.
- 23:47Justin Alan Hayes: To plug.
- 23:50Rob Gorski: I do.
- 23:50Rob Gorski: Actually.
- 23:51Rob Gorski: I want to just express the importance of self-care because I think we have this.
- 23:59Rob Gorski: I've been beating that into the ground forever.
- 24:02Rob Gorski: I last year, towards the end of the year, I just kind of hit a wall and hit kind of a really bad burnout phase, probably like the worst that I think I've ever experienced, and it was because of a couple of things, but it was largely because I had stopped putting back into myself.
- 24:21Rob Gorski: I was sort of really focused on my kids and the stuff that was going on in my life.
- 24:27Rob Gorski: And you have to make yourself a priority, because if you don't, then you can spend yourself in the physical and emotional bankruptcy and then you have nothing to give your kids.
- 24:36Rob Gorski: And we think that we have to give our kids every ounce of who we are, all the time, and that's like it's a noble thing to think that, but it's misguided because that's not sustainable and you have to put back into yourself so that you can have stuff to give to your kids.
- 24:52Rob Gorski: And then I guess lastly because this just came up yesterday I think that parents need to know that it's okay to feel whatever they feel.
- 25:03Rob Gorski: You don't need someone's permission to be upset or frustrated or angry or overwhelmed.
- 25:09Rob Gorski: You're human and humans experience emotions that we can't control.
- 25:12Rob Gorski: We can control how we deal with them, but you can't control that second that they hit you and what you're experiencing and parents beat themselves up because, oh, I shouldn't be angry with my son, he's autistic or he's got 80 HD and I shouldn't be like I need to be more patient.
- 25:26Rob Gorski: Well, like you're human, my kids drive me nuts.
- 25:29Rob Gorski: I tell them all the time you guys drive me crazy, but I love them and it doesn't mean that it's not them, it's just my human limitations.
- 25:38Rob Gorski: That sort of drive that and it's okay.
- 25:41Rob Gorski: It's okay to feel that way and it doesn't make you a bad parent, doesn't make them a bad kid.
- 25:44Justin Alan Hayes: And we got to give ourselves that grace to be human and move on from that, because I think there's too many people get hung up on that and there was kind of a we were talking about that yesterday on one of the groups, but yeah, that makes complete sense, and something that was introduced to me through a previous guest was efficiency complex or efficiency syndrome, where us, as human beings, we're comparing ourselves to what robots are doing, what AI, what chap, GPT and all those things where it's like the human being wasn't made to process 100 things at the same time.
- 26:27Justin Alan Hayes: And so, like you said, it's okay to have feelings and we're going to feel happy.
- 26:34Justin Alan Hayes: At times we'll feel sad, upset, frustrated, and that's okay, and we can take time away, whether away from the phone, away from screens, and just be and sitting and relaxing and recharging the batteries in a safe and healthy way is okay.
- 26:52Rob Gorski: Yeah situations you're going to be doing that for much longer than what a lot of other parents and neurotypical kids will have to do.
- 27:07Rob Gorski: And the only way that you can do that sustainably is to remember that it's a marathon, it's not a sprint, so like you can't just throw everything into it because that's you can only do that for so long, and then you know your kid's going to pay the price, because you're not going to be the best version of yourself.
- 27:22Rob Gorski: And so if you just make yourself a priority, then you're in a better place to give to the people in your life that need it.
- 27:30Rob Gorski: And my therapy is another good thing.
- 27:33Rob Gorski: Therapy and my therapist told me that you have to be selfish before you can be selfless and put back into yourself, so you have stuff to give other people.
- 27:42Justin Alan Hayes: Yeah, and some people might say well, that's yeah, you're being selfish.
- 27:47Justin Alan Hayes: You're only thinking about yourself.
- 27:48Justin Alan Hayes: Well, there are times that we need to, and the people are individuals or the societal thoughts.
- 27:55Justin Alan Hayes: Those individuals probably need to put a little bit into their souls too.
- 27:58Justin Alan Hayes: Yeah, so they can understand that, okay.
- 28:01Justin Alan Hayes: Wow, I have 100 things to do.
- 28:03Justin Alan Hayes: It's okay to do 60 of them today, or whatever that number is.
- 28:07Justin Alan Hayes: Yeah, because I can do the rest tomorrow and there will be another day.
- 28:12Justin Alan Hayes: And there's no deadline where some explosion is going to happen, Like, if you don't do it, like what does this mean?
- 28:17Justin Alan Hayes: Yeah, the world's not going to end.
- 28:18Rob Gorski: if you go to the gym or you do, you know you have a cup of coffee and read whatever you do for yourself, that is for you, that makes you feel better, kind of puts back into you.
- 28:28Rob Gorski: Doesn't have to be the same thing.
- 28:29Rob Gorski: That is for me and it doesn't have to be some grandiose thing For me.
- 28:33Rob Gorski: I go to the gym and that's my thing, and there's a lot of people who will go for runs or they'll go walk or they'll do whatever you put back into yourself and you end up ultimately being a better parent to your kids because you have the resources and the bandwidth, because you've replenished.
- 28:48Rob Gorski: You know it's like running your car to gas me.
- 28:50Rob Gorski: You don't want to do that.
- 28:50Rob Gorski: And like you know, we have our phones.
- 28:52Rob Gorski: Like we don't let our phones die right, plug them in like all the time because we want to keep that battery charged.
- 28:58Rob Gorski: We got to do the same thing to ourselves, exactly, you know.
- 29:01Justin Alan Hayes: Great Rob.
- 29:02Justin Alan Hayes: Thank you so much for joining us.
- 29:03Justin Alan Hayes: It's been a pleasure.
- 29:04Rob Gorski: Oh, thank you, this was awesome.
- 29:06Justin Alan Hayes: Great, and we also want to thank you, our viewers, our listeners, for checking out our transcript.
- 29:12Justin Alan Hayes: Rob is an awesome person, awesome parent.
- 29:16Justin Alan Hayes: Please check out autismdadcom, find all the links to what Rob is up to and, if you can follow him and maybe help join him, help others.
- 29:29Justin Alan Hayes: And so until next time I am Justin Allen Hayes and this has been an episode of the Voices for Voices TV show and podcast and until next time, I hope you have a great day and be a voice for you or somebody in need.