Anthony turned 18 recently and, as such, became a legal adult.  My wife and I had to go to court to get ourselves declared his legal guardians so that, for instance, a doctor can discuss Anthony's medical care with us. Isn't that silly--despite Anthony being clearly unable to speak or do anything on his own, a doctor could not legally tell us anything about him without us getting ourselves declared his guardians?  I understand the state must take a blanket approach to anyone of legal age, but it seems that it could be simplified for those who can readily be declared by a medical professional to be incapacitated.

The downside to having to go to court (besides having to use a vacation day from work) was that the process cost us several hundred dollars.  The upside, interestingly, is that Social Security will now pay his living expenses, so we can charge to have Anthony live with us!

Better late than never, I guess.  It's kind of sad to us; how we could have used funding from an early age for him.  It would have helped at least a little in our attempts to provide therapy for him when he was younger, and then later with all the damage he has done around the house as he has gotten older.  Speaking of which, normally that entails things like holes in walls and broken tables and counter tops, but occasionally it is something like rendering our daughter's disposable contact lenses useless when, as happened a couple of days ago, he was in one of his ripping/peeling moods.  It's too bad that insurance doesn't cover damage or loss due to autistic siblings.