Meet The Short Family-Tammy, Phillip and Leeann

from Special Needs Living Feb 2022 Digital Issue

by Uniquely You

Meet The Newell Family-Kala, Robbie and Jax

By: Aaron Olson

Photos by: Buonanno Photography

Tammy Short lives with her husband, Phillip, and her daughter, LeeAnn, in Fishers, IN. LeeAnn is 21 and has autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Tammy and LeeAnn are originally from Washington County Indiana, and lived in several counties across the state before settling in Hamilton county five months ago. Along the journey, Tammy met Philip, and, despite the numerous challenges associated with being the parent of a special needs child, Philip stepped up and assumed the role of LeeAnn’s father. Tammy and Philip have been married for the last 12 years. Tammy’s background is in nursing, and, like many parents in the special needs community, currently works as a direct support staff taking care of 40 of the 60 hours of services LeeAnn receives weekly.

LeeAnn’s ASD symptoms are problematic to say the least and this causes a great deal of hardship to the family. To start, she is self-injurious, and due to numerous incidents, it is difficult to enroll LeeAnn in many of the camps, schools, and programs available to other special needs parents. What is particularly sad about the situation is that LeeAnn is not intentionally self-injurious and she’s not dangerous to others. By all accounts, LeeAnn is friendly and sociable. She enjoys meeting new people and asking them “when’s your birthday.” The self-injury is usually the result of her inability to effectively communicate. While she’s still subject to many of the different ticks and “meltdowns” typically associated with ASD, Tammy wants people to be aware that LeeAnn is a total sweetheart who means well.

Unfortunately for the family, LeeAnn’s ASD is fairly severe, and, due to her overall kind nature, Tammy is finding it difficult to find her the care she deserves. To put things plainly, LeeAnn needs 24/7 professional care. When they go out, Tammy needs to take the same precautions as would be necessary for an infant — hand wipes, alcohol for the restroom, etc. Tammy says she has looked into every option available so that she doesn’t feel like she’s being completely drowned by the workload presented by having a special needs child. Tammy wants other families who are in the same position, spending every waking moment providing care for their special needs child, to know they are not alone.

Tammy’s finding is that there is limited awareness of issues and limited adequate assistance. State-run institutions are simply inadequate for LeeAnn and their care providers at those institutions simply do not have the necessary qualifications or passion to provide LeeAnn with the level of nurture and engagement she would require. One of Tammy’s hopes in submitting her story is to raise awareness of the inadequacies of state assistance and maybe stimulate a dialog sufficient to bring about some much-needed legislation. This is not the end of Tammy and LeeAnn’s story, Tammy is still researching solutions and applying to have LeeAnn enrolled in various programs, but the outlook is bleak as the more “quality” programs exclude LeeAnn due to her past instances and the programs that accept her do not offer adequate care.