Ian Rankin says he hasn't been able to hug his son for four months because of coronavirus lockdown.
The Edinburgh author revealed the heartbreaking news during an interview with BBC Radio Scotland this morning.
His son Kit has Angelman syndrome, a genetic condition that affects the nervous system and causes severe physical and learning disabilities.
Rankin praised the work of Kindred Advocacy, a charity that has supported his family during the pandemic.
He said: "This lockdown has been really hard on families with special needs children and adults if they are shielding.
"Our son's in a facility in Edinburgh and we weren't able to see him for the first few weeks until they relaxed restrictions a bit and we could peer over the wall if the weather was nice and he could sit in the garden.
"He is not allowed to be with the other young adults in the facility. They are all shielding in their individual bedrooms and allowed out for a short period of time.
"They were the first to go into lockdown and will be the last to come out.
"Necessarily so, but it is just one of these things that people with special needs are going through that maybe aren't get mentioned in the press as much as other issues."
Rankin said his son couldn't cope with Zoom calls or other web link chats
The author explained: "That wasn't working frustratingly, so when staff said we could look over the wall or peer through the gate, he understood he was in the same space as us."
"I don't think the lockdown has affected him that much. People have been with him 24/7 - the staff have been amazing. I think it is harder sometimes on the family than the individual with special needs."
Kindred Advocacy director Sophie Pilgrim said: "We have a lot of families who are shielding their children and they are having to make decisions about at what point does shielding become detrimental to that child and their development and where do they start to re-engage with normal life again."
