>> Pierce and Melissa Mckay are
a mother and son living in
brentwood, Tennessee, just
outside of Nashville.
When the covid pandemic began,
they found themselves without
the vital school and community
resources needed to navigate
life for him as an autistic
adult.
Tonight, they share their brief
but spectacular take on adapting
to new challenges while living
with autism.
>> My name is pierce Mckay, I'm
24 years old, and I'm autistic.
>> When he was diagnosed with
autism, it was good to finally
have a diagnosis, and at the
same time, you have this idea of
what they are going to be like
when they grow up.
It changed a lot with that
diagnosis.
When he was younger, there was
still a lot of misconceptions.
One is they are not social.
He's a very social person, he
loves being with people.
We knew his autism was a little
more serious than we first
thought when he went missing one
day, when he was 12 years old.
He was on his bike riding lapse,
and I walked outside and I saw
he was gone.
We had to call 911.
Eventually, he was found riding
his bike on I-65.
It is ok.
Were you thinking about being on
your bike?
He never wandered away from the
house before.
So it was terrifying.
In 2020, he was finishing the
transition program at brentwood
high school and working on life
skills and had gotten him into a
job.
>> Working tables at the medical
center.
>> What other jobs did you do?
>> Pet smart.
>> Where else did you work?
>> T.J. Maxx.
I worked on her.
I worked Tuesday, Thursday, and
Friday.
>> What do you do with the
shoes?
>> In bins.
>> Do you sort them?
>> Yeah, sort them.
>> March of 2020 rolled around,
and schools shut down.
And he had to quit his job.
Suddenly, he has nowhere to go.
Nothing to do all day.
Sitting at home, his routine
completely interrupted.
And we did not know how to find
him a job without that school
resource.
We look into programs and they
were suffering from the
pandemic.
Hadn't heard a lot of coverage
for families that have people
with disabilities and how they
were affected by the pandemic.
I know we aren't alone, I know
there are so many other families
that were impacted in ways that
the general public were not.
I hope pierce is able to stay in
a steady job and be able to live
in a group situation with some
roommates.
It would be great if he was able
to gain a little more
Independence.
My name is Melissa Mckay.
>> My name is pierce Mckay.
And this is our brief but
spectacular take on living with
autism.
>> Wow.
Pierce Mckay, we are so proud of
you and proud of your mom.
Thank you for sharing your story
with us.
We hope we all learn lessons.
We can watch more brief but