handling elder abuse

Post Reply New Topic

Wisdom & Compassion Needed

There's two reasons I'm taking up band-width here. 1) Just so everyone knows, "elder abuse" is far more prevalent than people realize. The police tells me 50% of cases uncovered aren't even reported (altho' that makes me wonder: how does anyone know? If a tree falls in the forest ... ). Rather than break into a car, gang members are discovering it's more profitable to steal someone's I.D. and sell it overseas. (Don't answer email about lotteries or I.R.S.!) 2) It's occurred just now, in my own family — and, since ASD is very much a key factor in the story, I'd like to humbly ask my respected community for any input / feedback, on a particular point.

( Pre Face : As some of you may already know, if you've read my Introductions post, I'm newly self-diagnosed. So there's so much I don't know. )

===> This is about a +90-year-old's "highly functioning" adult Aspergerian (relative of mine). QUESTION: If his ASD has caused him to be in harm's way, can his ASD be presented to a Court in such a way as to say, "Look, this is what accounts for his meltdowns here and here and here in the scenario: it's called ASD. But he's lucid and highly functioning, nevertheless. So to strip him of his autonomy, which has been at issue all his life, would crush him even more. The better solution, Your Honor, would be to move him to better living conditions than he's been at, out of harm's way and with better and with greater quality of care, — AND with his own family NOW stepping in, managing, and monitoring his well-being.

Or does ASD damn him as being incompetent, and necessitate that a personal and financial conservator step him?

Not that anyone here is a social worker, or a lawyer, or any of that. But maybe Hive Mind has enough collective wisdom here to help me in this complex, difficult situation. ( And a Listening Ear is always a merciful saving grace. )

Hi ConnectingTheDots!

I'm sure someone better qualified to answer your question will come along soon.

It is my understanding that ASD can be presented in court as a reason for why a person behaves a certain way. I'm sure you can look up cases and find precedence of this in a situation similar to yours. That's what you'd want to find. But, I think it depends on what the judge thinks of autism. It could be that the judge thinks autistic people are incompetent, or it could be that (s)he is educated and would take that into consideration. The only way I could think get an idea is to ask a lawyer who has worked with that particular judge. The lawyer might be able to tell you what kind of a person the judge is, how (s)he tends to rule on similar cases, and how much the judge might listen to the argument you want to present.

You might want to look up Michelle Dawson, who won a case in Canada about human rights for autistic people. You could also look at the blog of Amanda "Mel" Baggs, who writes a good deal about human rights for autistic people and may have resources on her site that could help.

Pretty sure each case will taken on its own merits, I doubt massive generalisations are going to be made simply because the person has ASD.

I have watched some of this behavior, at a distance, and have been subjected to some, myself.

Consider the stories of human trafficking, where the rules of your employment gradually start to change, in the same, split second, when you are out of reach of social support.

I have seen rural tenants spoken-to, more cruelly than I have ever spoken to an animal. I have seen conspicuously-deformed people, some strangely-shaped heads, wild eyes, documented and undocumented.

Ungrateful, parental, "Old Economy Steve" stereotypes -- I am talking to you Boomers -- I believe this happens as a matter of Murphy's Law.

I have had the displeasure of performing different security roles. I've just BS'ed with business owners about how they get the job done. And, it's Murphy's Law.

If I meant to split hairs, his mental condition is not as important as the fact that he's a dependent.