Thursday, April 14, 2011

Look, there's a kid in a cage: What, again?!

In the continuing sagas of caged autistic children here is yet another gem

2 comments:

fauxtistics.com said...

Jonathan, haven't you heard? Low functioning autism is just a stereotype, an extreme example. They don't really exist in any number. Well, that's the story being sold over there, on the other side.

My take can be found here:

http://fauxtistics.com/?p=525

Anonymous said...

This is a horrible story, but it's a story is about abuse and neglect (plus poverty and lack of supports), not low functioning autism specifically.

At 5, my nephew wasn't toilet trained, and he was almost 7 before he could start at school (a specialist autism school). Before that, he spent some time in pre-school. With a full-time aide. After the preschool modified the fence, gate and locks to stop him from wandering. Not exactly most people's stereotype of "high functioning".

But no darkened caged room at home. No smell of urine (diaper got changed as needed). No not receiving medical attention. Lots of toys. Food in the frig. No marijuana. Admittedly, the apartment wasn't particularly clean - no food wrappers and garbage on the floor, tho.

You can be autistic without being abused and neglected. You can be abused and neglected without being autistic (tho autism certainly increases your risk of abuse/neglect). And this applies to both "high functioning" and "low functioning" autistics - especially as children.