Beautiful story but with a sad undertone.

A large percentage of the homeless have autism [1]. And that really sucks. If these people don't have support, their lives can turn miserable fast. And unfortunately it's just way too easy for these people to end up in abusive situations.

It's a lot of work to care for people with autism (moderate to severe). There is no standard for what they need, their capabilities can be all over the board. Some of them are capable like ronny in this story and they can hold down jobs. But others need 24/7 caregiving in order to survive. Unfortunately I don't think those with severe autism survive for long when they become homeless.

I hope this story at very least gets people to view the homeless a little differently. They aren't all there because of vices or failure. A large percentage are there because society does not care for those with mental disabilities. It was good on this story to highlight that Ron had problems with gambling. Autism does, in fact, make an individual more prone to various addictions.

My point in writing this, please have some humanity about the homeless. I get that they can be inconvenient. They are people and they aren't necessarily bad people due to their circumstances.

[1] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29633853/

• ChrisMarshallNY

  today at 12:16 PM

  Happy Christmas, folks!

  > please have some humanity about the homeless

  In the US, the homeless population exploded, in the 1980s, when they closed down all the mental institutions. Before that, there was a far less pervasive homeless population in urban areas.

  Being "on the spectrum," myself (but highly functional), I can attest to how easy it is for an autistic person's life to go sideways. Many autistic folks have very specialized and advanced skills, which can sometimes be applicable to making a living (like programming, or visual design).

  However, we're "different," which often leads to being shunned/traumatized by neurotypicals. I got used to folks eventually walking away from relationships, for no discernible reason. Used to really bother me, until I figured it out. Now, I just take it in stride, and appreciate whatever time I get to spend with folks. If anyone has seen The Accountant (the first one), there's a scene, near the end, where Ben Affleck's character is considering putting the moves on Anna Kendrick's character, but remembers his father, admonishing him that people will always end up being frightened of "the difference," and he sneaks out, instead. That scene almost brought me to tears, I could relate so well.

  For some folks, it's much worse. They can be relentlessly bullied, abused, locked up, or shunned, which leaves psychological scars that manifest as antisocial behavior, so they are never given a chance to show what they can do.

  • fragmede

    today at 12:56 PM

    Thankfully LLMs have ingested enough of human writing that one afflicted in such a way can describe the exact set of circumstances and ask the LLM how they made the other people feel, and figure out why they got expelled from the group this time. It never stops happening for us. I'm 42 now and it's happened twice this past year. But at least now I can figure out what it is I did wrong and how to prevent that from happening again.

  • globalnode

    today at 12:38 PM

    People like this really are at the mercy of fate, and the people they come into contact with throughout their lives. Its so unfair. But thankfully this story had a good outcome.

    Happy Christmas to you and everyone else here as well :)

• today at 12:46 PM

• today at 12:01 PM

My parents once took a struggling man in. I think he stayed with them for about three years, up until the moment I was conceived and my mom started planning for a future for our family and helped him get into a housing project. For all of my life before adulthood this man would show up once in a while on his racing bike for coffee, talk and proceed to stay for dinner. He was kind, funny and a tidbit strange. His life's story had more drama than a soap opera, but you wouldn't know it. After my father died I proceeded to look for him, but never found him. I still search online for him once in a while, fully knowing he probably isn't alive anymore and probably wouldn't use online anyways. There is some story in my head that he probably showed up to my dads doorstep once on his racing bike to find other people living there, but was too shy to ask for details. A trace lost.

Ronnie led a rich life. I feel ashamed that my selfish life feels pale in comparison. It's amazing these people did not worry about the extra expense and inconvenience of taking care of another person, with children of their own to take care of.

• ekjhgkejhgk

  today at 11:43 AM

  Different people are different I guess. Extra expense and inconvenience also wouldn't bother me. Instead I'd be worried that one day this guy is going to kill everyone while we're sleeping. How well do you really know someone? How well do you really know someone that just showed up at your door days before?

  • everyone

    today at 11:48 AM

    I dont think that's a useful way of thinking.. A well known family member could also randomly kill you. Either one is extremely unlikely.

    • today at 1:03 PM

    • rwmj

      today at 12:06 PM

      We don't give everyone guns, which helps a lot.

    • fragmede

      today at 11:57 AM

      The random family member, hoping they're in your will, and you having drank all their wine, has more reason to kill you, if we're going there, than some random stranger, not less. In the ridiculously off chance that's even remotely a real possibility.

    • lupusyndrby9

      today at 12:32 PM

      Isn’t that kind of a lesson learned though? Hitchhiking is illegal for a reason. We don’t let children run as freely outdoors . A lot of states are rewriting or adding exemptions to statutory limits on pressing charges and suing for certain crimes because they happened during a period of time where people assumed you could trust people more. Being cautious and distrustful of strangers with mental issues is a very productive way of thinking. I get people think it’s a fren because fren shaped but give em a couple bucks , and contact a professional to get them help. It sucks there are so many mentally ill people on the streets. That doesn’t make them any less dangerous and the honest truth is there’s a weird line between personal freedom and mental illness that means it’s their right to be a crazy homeless persons. You can clean em up set them up in apartment but you can’t force them to use their benefit payments to pay the rent, keep their apartment clean, or take their medicine. Help them if you can , but please please also don’t forget that people are dangerous. Use some common sense, the last thing anyone needs is more people in the news getting hurt by people with mental illness . It’s just makes it that much harder to get compassionate care for the rest.

      • rwmj

        today at 12:44 PM

        Wait, hitchhiking is illegal (in the US presumably)? (Supplemental question: how do you make hitching illegal?)

        In the UK I've met many interesting people both while hitchhiking myself, and while picking up hitchers. It is a practice that seems to have almost entirely disappeared here, not because it's illegal, but I guess because most people now have cars and some "stranger danger" worries.

        • lupire

          today at 12:55 PM

          https://hitchwiki.org/en/United_States_of_America

          As for "how": legislature passes a law against it like any other traffic law. Similar to jaywalking

        • lupire

          today at 12:54 PM

          https://hitchwiki.org/en/United_States_of_America

          As for "how": legislature passes a law against it like any other traffic law. Similar to jaywalking or prostitution (soliciting sex on the side of the road).

      • closewith

        today at 12:44 PM

        Is hitchhiking illegal in the US?

        • amanaplanacanal

          today at 12:55 PM

          According to the Wikipedia there are laws in some localities, but I don't think they are widespread.

  • jongjong

    today at 12:36 PM

    Yeah, I mean if anybody invited me into their home in such situation, given the current society we live in. There's a very high chance their wife would become my girlfriend. I would probably act autistic when the husband gets home. Anything to avoid being homeless.

    I would perceive it as a moral act too... I mean the husband is a lawyer. It wouldn't be difficult to find a narrative framing which would make me the good guy.

Reminds of this documentary of the Spring family: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azxCUOE6srI (20m)

Some seemingly ordinary people have superhuman ability.

I'm not crying! You're crying!

• justbees

  today at 12:40 PM

  Don't worry I'm crying enough for both of us.

• rajeshrajappan

  today at 11:57 AM

  It's kind of emotional and happy story at the same time.

• qwertz123

  today at 11:44 AM

  Oh I‘m definitely crying. What a touching story.

• whatevermom4

  today at 11:51 AM

  Indeed

beautiful... kindness can go a long way :) we could all do better (and I point mostly at myself now)

• imiric

  today at 12:11 PM

  > If you wanna make the world a better place

  > Take a look at yourself and then make a change

  <3 MJ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PivWY9wn5ps

  Merry Christmas!

  • leobg

    today at 12:16 PM

    Would not have expected to ever find those lines quoted on HN. Thank you. And Merry Christmas!

• rajeshrajappan

  today at 10:59 AM

  Yes, it's very touching story. Incredible people.

A properly touching Christmas story. It’s made my day.

This is why we need to take government out of the homelessness equation, so citizens can have more money to help

• donkey_brains

  today at 12:40 PM

  Ah, brilliant plan. Before governments there were no homeless. Maybe now we can have a for-profit corporation take care of homeless services to really squeeze all the efficiency out of the system. Just like they did for the prisons.