Compassion for mother who chained up autistic son? What?!?

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I'm going to jump in here in support of HisMom. To me this is a failure of societal support, not of the mother. I would not be able to take care of this kid. Support for those caring for autistic people is lacking, as lacking as the support for autistics. And with the woman being an immigrant in unfamiliar surroundings, I totally get how this could happen.

It is counterproductive to turn a blind eye to some of the more unpleasant aspects of autism, and will not prevent things like this from happening.

You are calling us judgemental?

IMHO it is the fault of the appearently horrible autism services in that area and the mom. The lack of services hurts autistic people also. It should be noted that the autistic advocate in the original article while overly compassionate towereds the mother in my opinion to her credit did make the point that lack of services hurts autistics.

The law seeks justice/punishment for actions not good intent. There should have been a consequence for the mother for what she did. What those consequences should be is where the mitigating circumstances become a factor. We have had post after post about the possible mitigating circumstances of the mother. That is fine. I think I have been the only one to discuss the possible mitigating circumstances of the autistic. This one sided attention/compassion is a problem.

We can talk about the mitigating circumstances for the Autistic.

I have to admit...that the mother was a total wicked witch for doing that to her son. And the people who praised her for it are a bunch of knuckleheaded scumbags.

Last edited by UncannyDanny on 22 Nov 2015, 6:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Agreed. Her behavior might be acceptable in some third-world country; but in this country, it is child abuse, plain and simple.

Oh sure, we could speculate on all of the possible reasons why the witch might had deceived herself into believing that treating her child like a dog was justified; but what she did was still illegal and immoral.

May she never again have another child. May her only child eventually have the opportunity to decide which nursing home she dies in. May she forever be known as a child abuser, and find no community that will tolerate her presence.

There is no excuse for child abuse!

No, there is no one-sided attention or compassion. This is a horrible situation for the entire family, including and especially the mother. What can possibly be done that would be a fitting "punishment" for the mother ? Should she be arrested and thrown in prison ? If so, as the children of an immigrant single mother of 6, where do you think the children will go ? Into care homes ? I don't know about Australia, but here in the United States, there is a total lack of care homes aka "therapeutic foster homes" that can take in children with severe disabilities (such as LFA with possible aggressive tendencies). So, that pretty much sums up the situation for the autistic lad - he probably has nowhere to go if his mother is locked up.

It appears that many people want the mother punished without considering the ripple effects of that "punishment". The "system" failed the family in two different countries, I suppose, and now we want her to pay for it and penalize her for the lack of support and for doing whatever she had to do for to care for her family ?

As for compassion / mitigating circumstances for the autistic lad - having autism is a mitigating factor. The courts and the justice systems recognize this, which is why violent attacks and even murder when committed by LFAs are usually not treated on par with those committed by NTs. So, it seems to me that most people realize and understand that it was not the boy's fault that he had significant needs and / or was aggressive / violent. My disagreement is with the minuscule percentage of alleged autistics here who want to blame and shame parents for everything and anything they would do because they want these people to tolerate violence and abuse at the hands of autistic child, just because "it just appears wrong". Well, I ask you - would you allow yourself to be beaten up by an individual, just because that person is "autistic" ?

That was what I was referring to in my earlier post - people who voice such opinions (that violence and abuse are OK when perpetrated by autistic individuals, especially against parents) do not seem "autistic" to me. Rather, they come across as hardened anti-socials, and must be regarded as such. Anyone who condones / justifies violence, and blames and shames acts of self-preservation by those at the receiving end give all autistics a bad name, and these people are not your "friends".

Australia is a third world country ?






Oh, Fnord, you doth protest too much !

I did not get the impression that anyone was praising her for tying up her child.

I believe the article said she has 6 children.

I was physically and sexually hurt by a person with a mental illness but of course I had to understand that it was ok and I had to be ok with it because the person is mentally ill and I had to just understand that. In fact, people were angry at me for being upset about he whole situation because the person is mentally ill. They felt that my talking about the situation and doing what I needed to do to stay away from that person would upset the person and the person needed to be protected because the person is so mentally fragile. People were much more concerned about how my response to the incidents would affect the person who hurt me rather than the fact that I was hurt. Just sayin'

Last edited by skibum on 22 Nov 2015, 6:48 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Maybe, but some may seem to come to her defense.

Back in the day, my dad could slap me around in public for whatever reason he saw fit, and no one would try to stop him. Most of the time, I had no idea why he was beating me. The rest of the time, it was because he believed it would discourage me from doing something that some other kid my age had done. The day he found out that the kid down the block had been arrested, for example, he got out his belt and let me know in no uncertain terms that he believed me just as guilty as if I had committed the act myself.

Parental insanity or not, child abuse is still child abuse.

Child Abuse Has No Excuse!

((((((((((((Skibum))))))))))).

?????????? WTH. He beat you because he thought you were guilty ? Were you picked up by the police for questioning ? Was there ever any suspicion of your involvement in whatever that kid was arrested for ?

Yeah, belting you was child abuse. I hope you picked his nursing home for him. If not, I strongly suggest that you take it upon yourself to do so. Pick the kind that is routinely investigated by the state and the feds.

Sweet revenge, aye ? Especially since you waited decades to dish it out ?

Thank you so much HisMom, Right back at ya'

I feel angry for what you went through and I feel angry about those people who blame you as the victim. People are really sick and I think I will just start weeding out people who think this is all okay.