Autism Is A Disability In West Virginia Woods

The Jacob Allen story has turned out well with the 18 year old low functioning autistic teen with limited communication skills found alive 4 days after getting lost in West Virigina woods while hiking with his parents. His severely limited communication skills could have cost him his life:

A spokesman for the rescue effort said Allen was found in the Dolly Sods Wilderness Area about a mile from where he left his parents during a hike on Sunday.

Because he is in good health and has hiking experience, and because temperatures have not been too cold, searchers had held out hope that he had survived. But his autism prevented him from speaking and responding to calls from searchers.

Neurodiversity advocates would have the world believe that autism is not a disorder; not a disability. This incident in West Virgina puts the lie to that absurd claim. So too does the case of Tiffany Pinckney, an autistic woman who starved to death. unable to help herself, while she depended on the care of her adoptive sister. So too does the case of the 50 year old autistic woman in a Long Island residential care facility who, unable to communicate what was happening to her, was repeatedly assaulted by attendants at the facility until the assaults were caught on video.

Hopefully neuodiversity icons like Professor Morton Ann Gernsbacher and Dr. Laurent Mottron will take time from studying high functioning autistic persons to give some thought to the more severely autistic persons who can not function in the real world and who are dependent on the good will of others to live. Maybe then they will not participate in creating the potentially dangerous myth that autism is not a disability.

Autistic Teen Found Alive In West Virgina!

Jacob Allen, a severely autistic teen with limited communication skills was found alive in the woods of West Virgina 4 days after getting lost while hiking with his parents!

Autistic Teen Missing in W Va , Let Us Hope He Is Found Safe

All parents fear an event like this one. I have experienced some of the fear of the family in this story although for nowhere near as long a time. When your child has little or no communication skills and restricted intellectual capacity the fears are extremely intense.

Let us all hope that Jacob Allen is found safe and in good health.


Autistic teen still missing in W. Va.

Family, rescuers worry that 3 days have now gone by

Thursday, October 18, 2007

By Anya Sostek, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

LANEVILLE, W.Va. -- Hundreds of people searching for an autistic teenager lost in the woods of West Virginia tried to keep their spirits up yesterday as a third full day passed with little sign of 18-year-old Jacob Allen.

Mr. Allen, of Morgantown, wandered away from his parents during a Sunday afternoon hike in the Dolly Sods Wilderness Area. He cannot communicate verbally and has the mental capacity of a 3- or 4-year-old child.

"Every minute that passes is harder and harder," said his 22-year-old sister, Brittany. "I just feel like I'm sitting there waiting for the phone to ring."

Time is critical because "the odds of a successful rescue go down significantly after 72 hours," said Greg Davenport, of Stevenson, Wash., who has written six books on survival. That deadline lapsed yesterday afternoon.