His mother is trying to keep him from falling.
It's not a real cliff — it's a metaphor that families and advocates of people with disabilities use to describe the transition to life after they turn 21 and "age out" of special education programs.
John is 20 and has severe autism. The life he has known since the age of 3 will soon change when he turns 21 and no longer is eligible for special education programs, said his mother, Patricia Miller of West Orange.
“It’s been a difficult year for everyone, but for our kids who have autism it’s been extremely difficult,” she said. It was a year of interrupted routines, raised tensions and halted therapy. To top it all off, John and others like him across the state are about to “fall off a cliff.”