Apr

30

Adventure Combating Autism in Mongolia

Posted by Darya Mead

Mongolia couldn’t be farther from Mexico and the epicenter of Swine Flu hysteria sweeping the globe. I have always wanted to visit Mongolia, in Central Asia, the home of Genghis Kahn and the Mongolian Horsemen I studied in a college Anthro class. Inspiration of late came in the form of numerous travel articles boasting that Mongolia is the new Prague, or that unusual ‘it’ spot that is attracting young travelers looking for adventure. A burgeoning art scene in Ulan Bator/ Ulaanbaatar and the warmth and generosity of the people who live there despite such a harsh environment, peaked my interest even more. Then, a few weeks ago I picked up an old Arts section of the New York Times (my nine year old and I have taken to doing the crossword puzzles together and sometimes we include my dad; three generations of brainpower.) In it I found a fascinating article and book review called:  A Gallop Toward Hope: An Adventure in Combating Autism. The story is about a dad who took his horse loving son afflicted with the disorder, on a trip of a lifetime to Mongolia, looking for adventure and a healing affect. I had read about animals helping those with autism and how if you can tap into what makes the child tick you can unlock some of their internal puzzles… I added the book to my growing list of must–reads that I never seem to be able to tackle and then forgot about it. Then a few days ago I was in Costco, of all places, and saw the book The Horse Boy for sale and a big display… I bought it and put it in my pile. If Swine Flu causes quarantines maybe I will get a chance to read it; sounds fascinating.

Filed Under Adventure Travel, Autism and Travel, Family Travel, Feature, Medical Tourism, Travel


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