How to tell someone with severe autism he has ALS? Should i even do it?
Hi guys, i’ve posted on this sub a few times about my father with ALS before but this is for a different reason. My cousin recently also got diagnosed with ALS. He’s only 32 so of course it’s very sad since he’s so young.
He’s severely autistic and almost nonverbal with a very young mental age. I’m one of the only people he likes and actually makes an effort to listen to, and so his parents want me to try to explain it to him. Please no one tell me I should tell his parents/someone else to do it because he really will not listen to them if they try, I promise.
However, I literally have no idea how to do this. I genuinely don’t know how to explain this to him. I don’t think he even understands what death is. And if i tell him he’s going to eventually be paralyzed etc he will probably be terrified
I have such conflicting opinions. On the one hand, it seems so cruel to try and tell him knowing he will struggle to understand and likely become very distressed if he does because he has such little emotional regulation. I’m only 18 so i’ve never had any experience with having difficult conversations with children since his mind is effectively that of a child. On the other hand, it also seems cruel for him to undergo these terrible symptoms that i’ve seen firsthand and not understand why or be gaslighted that nothings wrong with him/he won’t die??
So I guess this is a two part question: should i even attempt to tell him? If so, how?
