Fathering Autism #5 Asa lies and Priscilla cries

[peacelily7]

hey, autistic person here

i watched FA since they were small (<10k subs) and have been reading here since the first thread. the way they treat abbie genuinely shows how little they know about autism and how autistic brains work, let alone abbie's additional IDD struggles. and there's so much that's Not Great, but for some reason the room makeover really got to me? just thinking about how much thought i've put into my own living space makes me furious at how little they put into hers.

for starters there's no sensory lighting (the light up A box doesnt count). she appears to struggle with fluorescent lights in shops, like i do, and i know that having a space with SOFT LIGHTING and alternatives to the ceiling light + dimmer switches is really important for helping me regulate afterwards and avoid meltdowns! and i know they have the toy box and stuff, but i do wonder how accessible it really is. i deliberately keep stim toys in multiple, visible locations in my space to remind myself to use them before it gets bad !! given that i do this as a college student with a job (not living independently, but still), compared to what abby is shown to be capable of in terms of independent calming makes me wonder if the reason priss says she 'isnt interested' in stim toys is bc she lacks the forward planning to engage with things that arent 'there' ie packed away. the whole 'teenage girl' room is stupid too. im an adult and my room is covered in my special interests bc my space is a safe space. its literally my only reprieve from the overstimulating world and im just. i dont understand how they could knowingly go out of their way to eliminate anything that shows who she is or helps give her a sensory space that is actually positive for her to be in. the fact that p also said her room previously made her 'sad' is jarring. autistic people and their needs are not 'sad'.

dont know if this is related or not, but noticed they stopped keeping her blankets in the back of their car for her to put over her head. she put p's scarf over her head a few times. theyre so hell bent on pretending she isnt who she is and it's downright disturbing

 

[NeedTeaSis]

Can you tell me what happened in Jamaica? Thank you!

They took Abbie on a catamaran tour of some sort. At one point the passengers were allowed to get out and snorkel/swim. The tour guides specifically asked Asa not to take Abbie out with them. Of course Asa is fucking god and did whatever the hell he wanted to. Abbie was thrashing around so wildly that she consumed A FUCKING LOT of saltwater. This caused her to have a massive shitstorm of a diaper blowout when she got back on the boat...IN FRONT OF EVERYONE. They literally had to hose her shit off the boat. Again, they specifically asked Mr. I KNOW EVERYTHING AND EVERYONE ELSE IS WRONG not to let her off the boat,

 

[Valentine]

Hey Asa! I'll give you an example of a hypocrite. Go watch your video on absent/dead beat dads. See that guy? HYPOCRITE.

Post of the day

 

[jadedandcaffeinated]

Crazy to think Isaiah's about the same age as his dad was when he knocked up and ghosted his mom. I think Isaiah's more mature now than his dad ever will be. I can't wait until he's out in the real world with a little space and gets some perspective. It makes me sick how much Assa puts him down.

 

[Cranky Insomniac]

My two cents (Yes I'm new like the rest of the people who came because of the crying video.) I feel the channel has never been about spreading "autism awareness". In earlier videos A gets mad at comments from people with autism telling them they don't understand autism because they can type and speak. He was speaking to people WITH autism.
I am the parent of a 31-year-old autistic man who lives at home. He does not have IDD, he has an extremely high IQ. He can speak and type. He would also literally starve to death if I wasn't always on his ever-changing food issues. He can not hold a job, he can barley shower and could never be expected to live alone properly. I feel A is actually doing harm to autism awareness by demanding his daughter's level of disability to qualify as "really" being autistic when clearly his daughter has more going on.

 

[RocketQueen]

Ok, I am new here, have been reading the last couple of days trying to figure out how all this came down. I wasn't going to post at all, but I am totally confused on the timeline. I don't know what month 2nd child was born, just above says first quarter of 2004. For just me to figure things out, I will just say March. Subtract 9 months from that and that fits the court record saying Asa was with woman between June and August of 2003.

Going on with this, I do know that Isaiah was born in Oct of 2002. When Asa got other woman pregnant, Isaiah was approx 8 months old (if other woman got pregnant in June ) That does not fit in the line that Asa got other gal pregnant when he and Priscilla separated when Isaiah was 1 1/2 yrs old. Sounds like Cilla left him after 2nd child was born.

Please correct my thinking if I am wrong.

They always said and that they moved back to NC after he left the CG in 2000, and that they moved to Florida in 2004 or 2005 for better employment opportunities and to be near Priscillas family. Now since the "scandal" they are saying they were separated when Isaiah was one yr old and Asa was still in NC, but Priscilla and Isaiah moved to Florida to live with her parents, and that is the period the 2nd child was conceived. So what remains unconfirmed is this: They apparently reconcile and Priscilla and Isaiah return to NC where they continue to live well after Abbie is born. Their timing, moving from NC to Florida (after reconciling) appears to coincidently coincide with their discovery of child #2. They left the state and thought they'd left the child and drama behind them forever.

And the boat incident. Mortifying. Heres what gets me...they act as if Abbie is special. I am not insulting her, but she isnt special. She is a person who is severely IDD and Autistic. I get so sick of hearing "Oh Abbie, you're so special. Look at all the awareness you are spreading." They literally do not care about other people. All the screaming in stores and restaurants. Kicking peoples seats, grabbing at them,staring at them....and then the boat. Asa gave this long "we wont let a bad moment ruin a good day" speech. Well good on you Asa. Glad that your child shitting all over a boat to an extent that it needed to be HOSED off didnt bother YOU...but I bet it was just a JOY...a gift of "awareness" for all the other people who spent their hard-earned money to slosh around in your kids crap. "Look Abbie! Look how great you are! You just showed everyone you are a typical teen and let everyone know you have a right to crap all over people. Literally. You sweet girl!" And its all his fault, not Abbies. I will say that at least in this case Priscilla had the good grace and common sense to be embarrassed and sad. She had clearly been crying, and was avoiding looking at Asa and the camera while he was saying it was ok.

 

[SolsticeQueen]

Can I pose a question to the group at large?

Here we are digging up dirt on the Maass family, Asa in particular. People here are saying he has committed financial crimes. What would you like to accomplish with this information? If you could have it your way, in a perfect world, what should Asa and the others do? Do you want them to shut down his channel? Do you want him to apologize and tell all? Should they ask Summer to move out, go back to their old jobs, and find more and better care for Abbie? I am honestly curious. I like snarking as much as the next person (obviously, because I'm here, lol), but there are lot of people here digging pretty deep into their finances and pasts. I don't want to harass this other child and her mother, and I am personally not comfortable with the talk about Isaiah, his college choices, and his personal life. What do you guys want to come of all this? I think it is good to periodically ask questions like these because some of y'all have some WILD theories and speculations up in here! It is easy to get carried away without asking ourselves why.

Stop Exploiting a disabled child who can NOT speak for herself. Profiting off of the back of a severely disabled child, in her worse moments, is a deeply harmful and atrocious act. Plastering videos of a person, this far out of touch with reality, during her meltdowns, screaming, in diapers, snatching food like a feral child, on a toilet, speaking of her showering habits, running naked, in stressful situations, laying on a public floor, etc is demeaning to the person and devaluing her autonomy.

The hope is that they pull footage of Abbie, and share information relevant to helping families of children on the spectrum. Doing this, while not exploiting and showing ON CAMERA the disabled child. Speak of ways to navigate a diagnosis, give helpful resources, help with navigating school choice, advocating for your child, help with behavior modifications, how to circumvent their way with all of the doctors, therapies, programs, services. There is no need to use Abbie as an attraction in a circus side show.

The people who want to watch her do those things are sick! Really and truly, it is disgusting and anyone who feels the need to watch a 14 run around screaming and yelling, stuffing food in her mouth, and biting her arms because she is in distress, need therapy to find out why they are entertained by that. A watcher should be concerned more than blindly watch a disabled girl be exploited.

 

[Stripe69]

They started off giving out info about autism and seemed to be genuine people. I admit I was fooled for a while. When they decided to become full time ytubers, that’s when everything changed. No more sessions with Abbie themselves, constant eating out, showing off what they had bought and a really cocky Asa began to emerge.
That girl is obviously idd with autism traits but it is definitely not her main disability. I think when she was younger she was diagnosed with autism as the idd was not showing as much. I hope she is reassessed as in my opinion the little treatment she gets is focused on the autism which is not her main issue.
Back to mr cocky now. He thinks that all the world should adapt themselves to Abbie and it’s ridiculous. Taking her to restaurants and her shouting and stealing is not something that is acceptable and neither should it be.they think they have the only autistic child (idd) imo.
They are oblivious to the needs of other people and his know all attitude makes my blood boil. His continuous interruptions when people are talking just show what he is. There is no other opinion valid except his and he makes a complete fool of himself as he is often wrong.
The whole shit show is rolling out of control and it needs to stop.

 

[LYsySA]

You are so right. They serious act as if Abbie is the only person with autism in the world. I especially noticed this when she went to prom. That was the most cringe worthy sht ever. She and thousands of other children with autism went to that prom. They made it seem like Abbie was breaking barriers doing that YET she most likely didn’t understand any of it and signed “all done” multiple times. The fans are wacky and enjoy a show. There was absolutely no reason they needed to do all that for her going to that prom. I will not forget Priscilla spraying that setting spray right in that girls eye CRINGE CRINGE CRINGE.

The whole prom thing was such bullshit, sure drag her to a dress store and hold her down in a chair to do her hair and make up just so you can have a nice picture for Instagram and a vlog to put out. Meanwhile she has no clue what is going on and simply wants to go do what she wants to do.

I'm willing to bet anything that she would have had so much more fun if they would have thrown her a pool party with lights, music and sensory pool toys. But i guess that doesn't fit in the "she is such a teenager" narrative.

 

[RocketQueen]

They defiantly have marital issues! You can see it in Priscilla's eyes, when she's not 'acting' , which is rare these days. There's no way that this isn't horribly upsetting to her and bringing up old hurts. This is just the beginning of the end, the real question is how long with it take. Like every other 'celebrity' (even small youtube ones) They hide as much as they can behind fake smiles and pretending to go on about life as usual to the point of being overly 'happy'. The truth is it HURTS...and I know they are ALL hurting.

Asa absolutely read's these boards and the 'other' ones, which in my opinion are much more brutal. When you are caught up in this kind of scandal you can't help but to see what people are saying....it's truth seeking and it has to be really painful right now. I'm sure that with each video he makes, he's struggling with the editing because he knows exactly how it's going to look to those of us who aren't buying into the BS, but he still has to please the delusional supporters.

Oh yes, after watching todays vlog I am 100% convinced hes visiting here. One of the topics here the past few days was Abbie just coming home and sitting on the couch now that she no longer has Brandy and ABA daily....then like magic, today is all about how Abbie "helps". Asa should pay all of us garbage people for giving him his "original content".

 

[jadedandcaffeinated]

Jesus right from the moment Brandy starts talking to Abbie, Assa has to interrupt. She was asking if she wants a snack and trying to talk to her and Assa has to shout across the room about the vlog and distract her. "Brandy's here! Brandy's here!!". Yeah Assa, she's literally talking to her dipshit. IDK how Brandy doesn't just throttle him

 

[Hotographer512]

Its interesting that we are able to see and pick up on how Assa talks down to Isaiah and how hurtful his words are.
Yet, their rabid fans don't see it. His own mother doesn't see it.
It's interesting that we are able to see through their BS and call it like it is.
Yet, their rabid fans just worship every single exploitative thing they do.
We are an exceptional group of intelligent, caring, intuitive people who just want these hambeasts to be decent human beings.
As long as they refuse, we will remain.
I just gotta say...
Thank you all for your fellowship over the past few months.
#keepspreadingawareness

 

[Pink Marshmallow]

I think what bothers me the most, and pushed me to seek out more information, is the way the family just seems to gloss over Abbie’s significant IDD. It may be blasphemous here, but I didn’t really have an issue with them until more recently. I was never someone who watched daily, I would go weeks or months without watching, then remember them and watch a few videos.

I know it’s a hard grieving process when your child’s life shifts so significantly from where you thought it was heading. That being said, Abbie is 15, and it’s starting to feel like they’re clinging to the diagnosis of autism, not just for financial gain, but because it may seem easier to accept than her significant IDD is. I have a cousin who has severe cerebral palsy, but he’s also severely IDD. For a long time our family would just say he had cerebral palsy if anyone asked why he was in wheelchair, tube fed, couldn’t talk, etc. The truth is that, many of his physical disabilities are from the cerebral palsy, the rest? IDD. He’s stalled at about 6-10 months, but he’s 24-years-old.

Now that the family accepts it more, he gets adjusted age appropriate gifts. Does it light up and play music? It’s for him. Just remember he’s not coordinated enough to really reach or grab too far. Abbie deserves this. We don’t talk to my cousin like a baby, he’s a grown man, but we also keep him happy because we know he’s a grown man who likes baby toys. Abbie is clearly happy with things like an inflatable pool with pillows, so go for it! They need to grieve and let it go. Abbie will be happier and so will they! At her developmental age, she never should have been scuba diving in Jamaica. They warned them of the risks and everyone paid for it. I get wanting to give your kid as many experiences as possible, but recognize her health and happiness! What if someone else’s kid had done it, and that child had C.diff or something? It’s a huge health risk.

I don’t care as much about the cheating thing, or even the back child support, as I do the IDD situation. It feels like they’re ashamed of her for that and they’re clinging to autism because it’s easier to explain and accept.

A&P are very much in denial about the severity of Abbie's IDD. They've mentioned/acknowledged it a small handful of times but they still prefer to act as if autism is her main diagnosis. I think initially the autism was more pronounced. Asa posted a video a few days ago of when they'd been to Disney when Abbie & Isaiah were much younger. Abbie was quite different to how she is now. Her standing posture was more upright, as opposed to now where her shoulders are slumped forward and she has her head hanging downward most of the time, in the older footage she moved around more quickly than she does now, she was jumping up and down and dancing with more energy. She seemed way more interested in what was happening around her. Now, most of that has gone away. I think as she's gotten older, her IDD has become much more pronounced and prominent.
With her bedroom update, Pricilla says they know Abbie isn't developmentally 14 years old but that doesn't mean she can't have a teenager bedroom. Ummm.. yes it does?? Abbie isn't interested in the same things that neurotypical 14 year old girls are. She's mentally at the toddler stage so it would make more sense for her room to reflect that. Someone mentioned having twinkle lights (string lights, fairy lights) for her room so that she doesn't have to have the bright main light on all the time. Well, at their old house in her old room, she had that and enjoyed it quite a bit. They ought to have included that in her room update since there are many teenagers who have string lights in their rooms. I'm glad that they didn't remove all of her toys from her room. She had a few plushies on the bed as well as a toy box.
I also think one major reason why her ABA therapy isn't working as well as it could is because they aren't really taking into account the extent of her IDD. I think the IDD really affects how well she's able to respond to the exercises which are aimed at autism. But A&P would rather focus on the autism and treat that as her primary diagnosis which it isn't.

 

[PhartBlossom]

Good mornin' Great posts overnight, I can't quote everyone but will put my 2 cents in.

Whenever I see someone say a woman got pregnant on purpose to trap a man...it makes me cringe. A man knows what causes pregnancy and if he is SURE he does not want a baby, use a damn condom. Be responsible for your own sperm and where it ends up.

I think Isiah is a good kid. I hope he goes away to college and rarely comes home. I think Summer has some serious issues and wish she would go away from this family and get on with her life. Becca seems much more normal and when she is there you can tell she is there for Abbie.

I do not believe parents of Autistic children are using FA for advice on their kids. I believe they want to know how they can make bank of their child's distress. The rest of the fans are about the dumbest people I have ever come across. Just dim bulbs. They are so blinded by Asa they actually blame the mother of his child for Asa not knowing about the child. In their eyes, Asa can do no wrong.

I would love to see the mom step up somewhere and do something, even just to get back pay from this dead beat dad.

I see the acting in these videos. They act. I also see the subtle body language that real actors learn to NOT do. Asa is a bully and it is obvious with how P and I look at him. On he victim video when Asa cries about how Isiah may be viewing him? That's it! Isiah has been acting much differently lately and he knows his dad left HIM when he left his mom. That's another thing the fans cannot admit to themselves. Asa didn't just not want to be married anymore....he didn't want to be a father anymore.


I mentioned this before but if you watch the "how it all started" video and look at a pic of Asa with a young Isiah, he looked pretty good, then the pic of P with I and she is absolutely huge!!!!

Now this is just mean...but I don't care. Asa has bigger boobs than Priscella! I mean those two just get fatter and fatter and fatter. Whenever they have meet ups at Dunkin and ALL the fat people are there...goodness gracious! DD would not want to sponsor a bunch of fat assed people!!!! How could that possibly be good for their brand? "Buy our donuts and coffee and you too can be obese!"

 

[RocketQueen]

I wont Brandy bash. She can only work with the clients abilities, we have all seemed to agree are low. On top of the fact that she communicates so effectively with her. Abbie is a lot calmer with Brandy because she keeps her focused when communicating instead of 5 people jabbering at once, touching her, and "sweet girling" her. Even when Abbie has melted down with Brandy, Brandy gets the situation resolved calmly without having to restrain her,pick, her foot up, turn around, and all that crap A&P insist on.

A&P do not listen to Abbie. Or dont "hear" her. Recently A&P and Brandy took Abbie to a cookie shop. A&P were constantly talking. "What one sweet girl?" "This one?" "Chocolate?" Even the clerk said "I'm just going to step back so she isnt overwhelmed." After she had eaten her cookie, they were in the booth. Asa kept saying "Are your ready? Lets go." Abbie kept saying no. She was sitting quietly and looking around. Asa persists and stands and Abbie begins to vocalize. Brandy immediately said "Ok, we can stay and sit." Abbie immediately quieted down and continued to chill. Then of course Asa acts as if it was HIS observation that she wasnt ready to transition. My point is, I realize that Brandy is a professional, but it seems to me that Abbies time with her is really the only time she at least has the opportunity to try communicate her needs and be heard beyond someone simply tossing "snacks" at her to shut her up.

 

[NeedTeaSis]

Thread title suggestion:

Heat that pool, you lying fool.

 

[KateK]

I just can't get over that Asa knows he has a daughter out there.... and seemingly feels no obligation to her? Or cares about her? Or wants to know her? This is Abbie's and Isaiahs step sister.. they share the same blood? And his rabid fans defend him and still think he is "Father of the Year"?

Wonder what he was thinking making that video about absent fathers? How could he make that with a straight face?

 

[Shakira]

Oh the hypocrisy...

 

[jadedandcaffeinated]

Yeah.
#couplegoals with a mfer like him.

The amount of grown ass women crushing on him and thirsting in the comments is... something. Good news though ladies, he cheats! There might be a chance! lol

 

[Just.Me]

Hello everyone, welcome to th... JK

Sorry about that but this is my first post here and my first forum interaction EVER! I'm SO excited!!! (ok, that was the last one LOL)

Ironically, I learned about the forum thanks to the A&P video 2 days ago about... well, we all know. And I've been catching up in silence ever since. (Please forgive my bad english. It is not my first language but I need to get this out of my chest)

I have followed (or used to follow) FA on YT for the last 3 years, ever since my son was diagnosed and like many here, FA was my second source of knowledge (after the doctors) about a condition that seemed deeply frightening and had fallen on me like a bucket of cold water back then. I must admit I learned a lot with his earlier vlogs and even "understood" why it was necessary to show things like Abbie's "toilet training", although it always seemed like an invasion of her privacy and quite embarrasing to watch.

I always saw Abbie having the maximum support of her father (P always said she has no patience for her), taking her to a good school, then therapy at home and also being able to interact with people outside her family environment who love her and are aware of her abilities but at the same time they respect her limitations (Brandi & CN, God bless them) so, being a single mother and with no money to pay for a babysitter who knew how to help my son, I thought that his future would be much worse than Abbie's and that scared me because I honestly haven't seen much progress since she was little.

Then money started flowing and long story short, the new house got in the picture and, as we all know, everything has been down hill from there ... At first I was very happy for her (I've always been a fan of Abbie, not of FA) thinking that she would be thriving. Then they announced CN was leaving and my heart broke! I knew that Abbie would be sad for a while and that she would even have regressions because CN was the best thing that could happen to her in life, it is very obvious that CN loves her without conditions and has no resentment towards her as her parents seem to feel sometimes...

When they announced that Summer would live with them, I assumed that Abbie would begin to show progress because she would help to be consistent with the help Abbie needs, at least in regards to the use of the diaper because *who wants to see her best friend wearing diapers in her teenage years, right?* I don't want to go deeper into the subject, but it's one of the things that bothers me the most about Abbie's condition. It is very confusing for me to put diapers on if they say she knows how to go to the bathroom and only needs help with a few steps. She will never leave the diapers if they keep them as an option, it is logical. I lived that with my son and of course it is time consuming because you have to be aware of your child ALL THE TIME for months but it is possible and worth 100%. I could not leave my son in diapers at age 14, just for my own comfort.

I have many more things to say but I wanted to start with this, since my main focus is on Abbie's well being. Unfortunately, I have felt for a long time that she would be better if it were not for her selfish parents.

I do not watch the vlogs anymore but I'll keep getting info from you all. Thank you for speaking your minds and spreading real awareness.