Vicious attack on autistic girl of 14 - outraged

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It's VERY saddening and infuriating to see that youth on the spectrum must be ever-vigilant against attackers pretending to be friends, and are thus discouraged from making friends due to the risks involved - because they don't have "NT privilege".

Case in point: recently, in Ottawa, Canada, a 14-year-old girl with autism was the victim of an aggravated assault by two other girls who left her with a concussion and in hospital.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/h ... -1.7380849

After the girl, Sloane Foster, was invited to a friendly get-together for lunch, she was attacked en route by a group of violent girls with the "leader" nearly killing her after things got more heated. I even question whether the lunch invite was made in good faith as there's been anecdotal evidence of NT kids inviting ND kids to places knowing full well that they'd d take the bait, due to desperation to make friends from a lengthy spell of rejection; then they attack them. This sadly resulted in murder in certain cases - google the tragic case of Shaun Rossington, a young UK man with autism who was gang-murdered at the age of 21.

The article goes on to say, once again, that school authorities aren't doing enough to prevent bullying. When the sad reality is that it can't be stopped. After several decades on the planet and having left bullying long behind save for a couple of past work experiences, this is what I rather pessimistically conclude.

But back to that "NT privilege" mention I made: the aggressor girl only got 1 week suspension w/o any criminal charges, for what was basically an attempted murder and aggravated assault. Guess that comes from the victim being regarded as "less-than"
Whereas, if the tables were turned, and the neurodivergent girl was forced to defend herself and left the bully with a concussion, you can be sure that she'd be expelled from school, and sent to some sort of institution. Because NTs just viscerally regard mental disorders of any kind as "danger" and "unstable".

One more reason I was reluctant to physically stand up to bullies back in the day - the NT establishment wouldn't have my back. Even though I was undiagnosed yet (this was the 80s and 90s), I KNEW my brain worked differently.

Also casting a backward glance to the '80s as a boy, when I told my mother that I didn't want to go play outside somewhere because other kids might attack me and she replied by saying that I'm just being paranoid or difficult, well, gee whiz, I was clearly on to something!! ! And I was reluctant to go to any house gatherings in my teens, even if invited, due to the same hyper-vigilance. Thus the misconception that "Aspies want to be left alone". NO, it was a lack of "NT privilege" - people won't target you if you have the same gait, mannerisms, social norms, etc. of their own neurology.
Unfortunately, back then, many parents were in denial that their child was "permanently different" due to the stigma/taboo of mental disorders, and they just needed to try a bit harder to fit in. Nowadays, THERE ARE NO EXCUSES.

The poor girl's father has some very legitimate concerns - especially after her hearing on mobile/cell phone her daughter's cries for the violent girl to "stop it". This excerpt from the article says plenty:

For now, Warren Foster is still hesitant to send his daughter back to school and has made a habit of escorting her to and from the building.

"I walk her into the school," he said. "It's been very scary, life-changing. It's been stressful on Sloane, myself, the whole family."

Back in the 80s, I got attacked by bullies in a similar fashion. They liked to set me up at school functions. I do not want to go into details (to prevent triggering others). After the first attack, I started carrying defensive items on me at all times. You would be surprised on what you can use when pushed that way.

Humans are naturally wired to be cruel to each other. This behavior will not change until something forces the change to happen.

I guess I was lucky, most other girls were cold and indifferent to me in junior high and didn't try to kill me. Meanwhile the boys would throw rocks at me, scream at me, spit on me, sexually harass me, and call me names wherever I went.

I guess the boys bullied me and not other girls because they didn't see me as a girl, even when I was wearing makeup and pink shirts and writing with a pen shaped like a fairy wand. But that's okay, as adults I would not see them as "men", no matter how manly they would act.

It will not change until all humans are dead. Simple as that. And humans deserve it.

heartbreaking and completely relatable, having been the victim of assault as part of bullying while in school too. Very saddening.

Well, that might be hyperbole to say that they're wired to be cruel to each other... some people/groups more so than others. I believe that the majority of individual humans have no such inclinations. Where I do see that sort of behaviour emerging is more in tribal / group settings, where groupthink dominates, and they're collectively in some sort of "survival mode" wherein they vilify other groups and people who aren't like them. Just look at the example of Nazi Germany.

And with Trump and his rhetoric, we would be even more marginalized.

I was bullied in a similar fashion two years ago and I am in my late 50s. This kind of thing happens to so many of us no matter what our ages. It happened to me at a public facility, not at work or at school. And when I tried to get help from the police, the police also bullied and harassed me and threatened to arrest me for being bullied. When I tried to get legal help, I was told by every single lawyer I contacted that they would not help me and that because the facility is privately owned, even though it is a facility that provides a service to the public, they are allowed to do whatever they want including bullying and assaulting and physically injuring a disabled customer. Even though that directly violates ADA law, I was told that I am not protected by ADA law. I contacted disability rights advocacy groups and they refused to take my case. Just recently, one of the employees openly admitted that they are openly targeting me and I told a lawyer that. He said it did not matter because if I don't have a recording of the person actually saying that, no one will help me. I actually asked the leader of an Autism advocacy group to help me and when she said that there was nothing they could do, I asked, "So are you saying that Autistic people can just be targeted and assaulted and battered like this and nothing will be done about it?" And she literally said, "That's just the way it is." This kind of bullying of marginalized people will never stop.

This is a worldwide assault on people because of cyber gangs and organized crime. Mob stalking and attacks are a result of that.

I am an independent voter and I don’t see life in black and white but as every shade within the color spectrum. At the moment, I see Trump doing his best to remove gang violence that has permeated nearly everything, from schools to medical facilities. The gangs have permeated society because of massive, ongoing data leaks and information trades within black markets. They are using people against each other, deliberately dividing social groups as a means of control.

I don’t gamble, but sometimes I ponder what I would do if I won a billion dollars in an American lottery. I definitely would do something with the money to help protect the autistic community.