13 year old autistic boy arrested for meltdown

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Having Asperger's is classified as being high-functioning autistic, isn't it? I think if someone with Asperger's has a meltdown and destroys property then the likelihood of him getting arrested would be greater than if a low-functioning autistic were to do the same thing.

That being said, I'd still like to know if the autistic boy mentioned in the article was high-functioning or low-functioning.

same

As if the incident weren't disgusting enough, the comments on the article were absolutely sickening. No wonder more regular human rights abuses against the disabled like those that occur at the JRC or some mental institutions get overlooked, if this is how most people read the situation. I can't believe that some people consider it a "special right" to be able to go to mainstream public school like other kids and NOT be harassed by fellow students, the school or the police, and think that anyone who wants it for themselves or their kids is "whining" and an "idiot."

that is so sicken what they did to him

If you have kids who are on the spectrum, move to any country, other than America, where the educational system might not be as bad.

I'm with you on this, Addison.

So, how about the Canadian system.

Well, I was there. I grew up in the same age level as another guy who had AS and it was made public due to his numerous social and behavioral issues in the past. I couldn't stand him much well either, though I was more respectful as much earlier in life I had been bullied, etc. Moreover he had been violent. (I was not diagnosed till some years later, and it is kept strictly private)

At a certain point I don't think explanation is enough to settle other students, and I was there when that line was crossed. He freaked out, became loud, violent ( I was a desk or 2 away). He was already escorted by a TA at all times, and it is fortunate that his particular TA was unusually fit because this student was huge, if not unwieldy. The teacher rushed us out of the room in seconds, and we just sat there in another room. I don't the fact that AS had been explained to us a year ago made any difference, most of them were shocked, some were even crying.

I guess the point I'm trying to make is that I do not find it acceptable to get away with hurting others just because of one's condition. I think no matter how much a person knows about how "you're not responsible" thing we can say can still hurt. We still said them and the content is still there. And of course, pain is not changed by who caused it

I'm not saying this guys deserves what happened, but I do not think at all the officer should be seen as bad for physically stopping him. He was physically threatened, and he did what was in his power to do and keep order. However, it would have been much better had he had an escort TA like in my story's case. The TA knew exactly what he was dealing with and how to physically suppress the student in a non hurtful way. He had him on the ground in moments and this kid was like twice his body mass. So I guess the Canadian system was better prepared.

However, my anecdote ends on a lower note. The student was formally suspended and we never saw him in class again. He was still in the system , but segregated. I guess in a lot of ways my secrecy about my later diagnosis resulted from this being the only other example of an AS student I knew. I don't know though, I'm not sure, after what happened, I disagree with the segregation.

{Sarcasm} Someone, quick, call the ACLU on this! {Sarcasm}

Now really, how will arresting an autistic child help?
Obviously, the kid didn't understand what happened or what he is "being charged for."
And the article wasn't clear if the kid was LFA or HFA.

I'm getting tired of the stupidity of school officials who seem to know nothing of autism or how to handle meltdowns.

I hate to think that this student was in a special education class and is being taught by a teacher who doesn't even know what Autism is.

Apparently the common protocol to deal with special kids who have meltdowns is to call the police cuz they're too lazy to pick up a book and read on the subject.

Just stupid.

The school should have stopped the bullying from the onset.

This is nonsense and utterly stupid "one-size-fits-all-no-matter-the-context" style justice. The law is shaped around neurotypicals who intentionally engage in acts of aggression out of vindictiveness or manipulative intent. There is something very different about somebody with marked sensory integration issues (that are known to the school) acting out because of torment and damaging propery due to sensory overload. THE TWO CASES AREN'T EVEN COMPARABLE. It's like saying somebody should be jailed for punching a man who was comming at them with a knife because "fear is not a get out of jail free card".

The moral depravity of society in general and the "blame the victim" mentality when it comes to bullying in particular disgusts me.

I very much agree with everything you just wrote. The way that this will be handled will likely be a horror to watch. I mean, sure, "autism isn't a get out of jail card", but... it isn't justice to fail to recognize that this kid may not have committed any moral wrong, so to speak. If anything, it is INJUSTICE to fail to recognize that.

I feel sympathy for the kid, and horror at what is going to happen. If I believed in God, I would pray for him. If I believed in God, I would curse him and ask him why He could allow such things to happen. Instances like this though are the real reason I can't believe a God exists. And I know... that seems very self-serving given the current PPR contest.... but, on some level it really is true. The Christian church would likely be no better than the thuggeries we see in this case, if not worse in that they feel free to proclaim "God's will", and... well... I know from my own experiences that they aren't better.

Actually, my response was a bit inadequete. The situation is more like blinding someone with a flashlight, coming at them with a knife a few times, kicking them, drugging them, and then watching the disoriented and confused person try and punch back, perhaps hitting a police officer he mistakes for the assiliant a few times, then being tazed and pepper sprayed only to be thrown in jail for the night under the mantra that "severe disorientation and inability to properly process an on going violent assault is no 'get out of jail free' card!

The stupidity of this mantra and corrupt, ignorant philosophy is transparent.

Actually it isn't at all. That's the really strange part, and the frightening part. Actually, your philosophy is transparently wrong, and if you talked to anybody to express this opinion, then they would likely deeply disagree with you, despite the fact that you have better reasoning behind you. Truth wouldn't matter.

I mean, a lot of ideas are transparently wrong, and they keep on going forward.

I agree with your first paragraph, as for the second - I've never really taken the notion of God seriously enough even to think in terms of the "Problem of Evil" so I can't really relate to what you're experiencing.

But, yeah, this situation is messed up and based totally on the local police's complete ignorance of autism. If any of the officers had a son with Kanner's syndrome I guarantee you Kaaron Guillory wouldn't have been sent to the slammer that night.

Hah! I can understand that! That's why your atheism will always ring hollow as it is just a joust against a construct. But all kidding aside, an instance like this is one of the reasons I did give up on the concept, which is why I tied it back. (also the contest, I have to be extra-atheistic and thus always talk about God to deny God, which paradoxically undermines the real goal of atheism in the first place. )

Right, it really is a messed up situation.