Weighted Blanket For Autism A Need Not Luxury

I know it's probably very radical of me to say that I think a weighted blanket for an autistic is a need not a luxury. However, I really wanted your attention! Not all Autistics like weighted blankets; some can't even use them because they don't or can't have deep pressure. However, a good majority do want and need a weighted blanket. Hence my blanket statement. (cue the pun drum! that was totally intentional)

This incident happened months ago (shows how long it takes me to process an event) but it's culminated in me suddenly deciding I needed to come up with a way to change the weighted blanket game for us all. I asked a company that I really liked if I could review their product. Something that was at the time in the 200-300.00 range. There's no way I could afford it outright then or now. So, imagine my delight when they said yes!

Then they countered with caveats that I knew I couldn't meet so I declined. It really depressed me because I had planned on trying the blanket for the review and giving it to my younger brother who has TBI and is a suspected autistic.

It took me a little to realize why I was so upset about the entire encounter. Afterall being rejected is a pretty typical thing to happen in the type of work I like to do. It's no big deal and it's a daily part of the experience. However, this time it was a little different but I didn't know why.

Until yesterday when I saw a friend put a weighted blanket on their wishlist and ask if it was ok to share the wishes. I think they stated it was something the couldn't otherwise afford. That's when it hit me on why the weighted blanket review that fell through hurt so much.

This item was not some luxurious accessory for my autism, it was a genuine need for my autism and something that could possibly help my little brother as well. However, the weighted blanket prices for something that was good quality and made out of nice materials was just so expensive! It is literally out of our reach. It might be possible for me to save up but it would come at great sacrifices to my other qualities of life and for someone like my brother who currently only makes around 100.00 a paycheck this was simply out of the question.

So, I ran a poll. It's not even been a week yet and suddenly I had votes pouring in. At first, it was from autistics that said they could afford one or maybe just did not want one. Some people pointed out it just wasn't for them or had other comments. However, by the end of the first day, I had 123 votes and 71% of the autistic people saying they needed one and could not afford one.

Some people said they were attempting to make their own with various degrees of sewing skill level. Other people said they were buying parts off things off eBay to piece together their own blankets. There was lots of talk about different weighting, materials and more.

After that talk my idea for weighted blanket radicalization took form. If only we could get mass production companies to start making blankets with pockets that opened and selling just that we could make the blank a bit more affordable. If the company was very enterprising they could make and sell so many different types of materials that would appeal to different autistics! Once the blanket was purchased we could all weight it with whatever items or products we liked.

I'll end my revaluation with a simple statement. If you are a big company please consider mass producing my idea. Just please make it affordable for us all to be able to get an item that could greatly benefit us. Thank you.