Mother charged in death of 15-year-old autistic son

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http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/nat ... le1337719/

I can only mourn.

Follow-up story from the father
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/nat ... le1338662/

That's awful!

*sigh*

I've been following the comments on the CBC website.

It's so sad that a parent who kills their "normal" child is a heartless monster, but a parent who kills a "disabled" child is just a benevolent person who either "needed more services" or "just wanted to put the child out of their misery". The double standard is disgusting. I don't even think a lot of these people realize their prejudice. And some people even have the nerve to start up the vaccine debate on that thread.

There's no excuse for killing a fifteen-year-old boy. I don't care how depressed she was; that she was willing to kill the boy tells me she has no morals to speak of, and probably though of him as an extension of herself and not a proper human being at all.

I've been depressed. I've been suicidal. There's nothing about either of those things that makes you capable of murder if you weren't capable of murder before you became depressed. People like to think that killers are "insane" because they refuse to believe that normal human beings like themselves can do evil things; and their unwillingness to face up to that fact makes life miserable for people with all kinds of mental illness.

This is not justified. I don't care how tough it is caring for an autistic teen; it's never justified to kill them. When she killed that boy, she was saying loud and clear, "I don't want him to have any life of his own. He's mine to do with as I wish. I'm the only one that matters." It's easy to conceal narcissism like that when your neighbors all think you are a wonderful mother who plays with her boy (conveniently in public, where everyone can see you doing it) and sacrifices herself for her child... when in reality, you are getting a kick out of people looking up to you for being so self-sacrificing and wonderful and saintly.

They say autistic people lack theory of mind. I think in this case, this is a woman who apparently doesn't understand that her boy has a life of his own, doesn't think of him as any more than an extension of herself. When you think you own someone, you are likely enough to think you can kill them, too.

That's my theory, anyway.