A few weeks ago, a woman here in Ohio was murdered by her autistic son.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/02/14/earlyshow/health/main4802860.shtml
Aside from the fact that this low-functioning man who has no understanding of what he did is now in jail awaiting a trial he cannot participate in, (which is a whole other issue that our society needs to deal with....) it underscores the scary fact that some children and adults with autism do exhibit violent behaviors. It scares me for my daughter's sake, because although she probably won't ever have these behaviors herself, her life could be in danger if she is around others who do.
April is Autism Awareness Month. Today I read a powerful essay about the uncommon, yet real, side of violence in autism. My child doesn't exhibit these behaviors, and hopefully never will, but it DOES exist and we as a society need to be prepared. We need supports in place to help the families and caregivers of these few adults who would hurt themselves and others. We need research into treatments to help these tormented souls find relief from the pain that drives them to be violent. With the increase in the prevalence of autism, reports of violence within the autism ranks can only increase as well. I hope we don't wait until today's tidal wave of children with autism are adults before we start thinking about how to handle this problem.
http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2009/03/26/bauer_autism/print.html
Please go read this if you care about anyone with autism. Thank you.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
It is important that those with special needs and their famiies have the support they need. My heart goes out to them. Ipray that nobody suffers violence or fear.
These articles really made me cry inside. The fact that there just isn't any solution for their needs in our medical understanding or society, or even a desire to figure anything out, is just sad to me. I agree that we need to carefully, intently, purposely look at this situation. And see how we can help. Not just those with the autism, but also the parents, family, and community surrounding them.
Thanks for sharing this, Lisa. Very eye opening.
Post a Comment