Horrific Abuse of California Man With Severe Autism

 CBSLA photo as Shown on the NY Daily News 

Shows Horrifying Abuse of Man with Severe Autism

KCBS-TV  Los Angeles "Mom Sickened" and the New York Daily News "Tantamount to Torture" report a story of horrific, torturous abuse by professional caregivers of a 31 year old autistic man with the reported mental age of a 3 year old.  The incredible abuse was discovered after the man's mother noted bruising on his body and installed cameras which recorded the abuse.  The CBS video report follows but as CBS cautions this is disturbing especially if you are the parent, as I am, of a son or daughter with severe autism:

While the depravity of this abuse may be unprecedented similar abuse has been reported in the past. Security cameras unknown to the abusers have been the most reliable way of bringing such abuse into the light of day. In 2007 in a New York group home a severely autistic woman was beaten by attendants, abuse which was only discovered by cameras.  These are incidents where cameras caught the abuse of persons with severe autism and intellectual challenges, persons who could not speak up for themselves. The odds are good that where those cameras are not present similar abuses will occur and will go unreported. 

Cameras are the only protection many severely challenged persons with autism will have and should be mandatory in all facilities and homes where care is provided for those who can not speak for themselves. Severe autism realities must not be ignored, can not be ignored. If we ignore these realities, if we fail to protect our loved ones who can not protect or speak up for themselves we are abandoning them to cruel fates. Steps must be taken to ensure they live in decent, safe conditions.

Edmonton Father Guilty of (Severely) Abusing Autistic Son

A 59 year old Edmonton father has been found guilty of abusing his autistic son. He was convicted of unlawful confinement, failing to provide the necessaries of life, assault with a weapon and assault. Alexandra Zabjek of the Edmonton Journal reports that the son's situation came to the attention of police when his two older sisters returned home to visit after having left the family home a few years earlier. They found him unresponsive, emaciated and chained in a room with a urine soaked mattress.

"Police officers, paramedics, and an emergency room doctor who treated the teenager told court during the trial that he looked "like a concentration camp victim."Court heard the teenager weighed 86 pounds when he arrived at the Glenrose Hospital for rehabilitation. He was five-feet, seven-inches tall. His muscles had atrophied, he suffered from bed sores, and his arms and legs were stuck in a curled-up position. He couldn't initially stand. The teenager gained 10 pounds in the five days immediately after he was taken into care, court heard."

The Edmonton Journal also reports that the man testified in his own defence and claimed that he locked his son in the room because of " episodes and reactions to his mother". The man also denied specific allegations brought by the sisters that he had hit his son with a coat hanger and a shoe. He testified the son received three meals a day. Obviously the son's condition was the most powerful evidence, evidence that spoke for itself, irrefutable evidence of abuse.

What the Edmonton Journal article does not mention is whether the man testified about why he and his wife  kept his autistic son in their home when they could not properly care for him.

Why keep their son in their home while he deteriorated in front of their eyes instead of asking the Province to take care of him or to provide help in taking care of him?

Low Functioning Autism

Anyone who has read this site from time to time knows that I am not a fan of the so called Neurodiversity movement. In its essence it is irrational. Neurodiversity (ND) is a group of people who embrace the term "autism" to describe themselves (autistic, autist, autie etc.) a term given to a neurological or neuropsychiatric disorder, but who claim, despite embracing the name of that disorder, that it is not in fact a disorder or disability. They also object to the use of terms like "low functioning" and "high functioning" autism.

Well the truth is that there ARE low functioning autistic persons. Typically they exhibit little or no communication ability or understanding of language. They also may not understand many of the complexities and dangers posed by every day life. My son Conor is low functioning and I am not ashamed to say so. He is a great joy in my life. When I come home from a tough day at work and see Conor's face pressed against the window, waiting for Dad, my spirits soar. I get a "happy buzz" when Conor walks into a room. But he is low functioning. He will never drive an automobile or live independently. He can not be left unattended by adults. And he cannot negotiate crossing a busy street by himself. I am not ashamed of him because he is low functioning. I love him deeply. I enjoy his company. He makes me stronger. But the reality remains that he is low functioning. It would be both foolish and dangerous to his well being to pretend otherwise.

Recently reported stories, some of them very sad, describe the realities of life for some low functioning autistic persons. In a tragic case the body of a 40 year old autistic man with diabetes was found in East Troy Wisconsin after he fell through the floor of a barn. This autistic man did not speak and had wandered off in the past but had been found in unlocked cars.

In the Chicago area a 12 year old autistic boy who never learned to speak had no way to explain to his parents what had caused the horrible bruises on his shins. It turns out that a teacher had forced him to jump for 40 minutes on a trampoline even as he screamed and tried to get down and eventually fell bruising himself on the metal rims of the trampoline. A teachers' aide witnessed the incident and reported it. The teacher has been charged.

In New York a middle aged autistic woman who can not speak was assaulted on several occasions by staff of the facility. Some have been arrested and charged.

In a story with a happier ending a 7 year old boy autistic boy who never learned to speak and who has not been attending school was finally placed by New York city officials in a private school which specializes in teaching children with neurological disorders. The placement was found after the boys story was publicized on the New York Daily News.

Sometimes as in the last incident problems end well. Sometimes autistic children who wonder off and get lost are found safe. But the underlying reality is that there are in fact low functioning autistic persons who can not communicate and display very limited understanding of the world. These recent stories present different aspects of their realities. They are not the realities of some very high functioning autistic persons who claim to speak on their behalf. It is parents, family members and ultimately public officials who actually care for and provide for lower functioning autistic persons. The Neurodiversity movement can help them by not appearing before courts, legislative bodies and the court of public opinion arguing that autism is not a disorder and should not be cured or treated. Such statements do not help lower functioning autistic persons and ... they simply are not true.

Autistic Boy Had No Way to Explain the Horrible Bruises

A 12 year old autistic Chicago area boy, one of three described in the Chicago Sun-Times as allegedly having been abused by Special Ed teacher Patrick E. McCarthy, had no way to explain the bruises on his shins. The boy was forced to bounce for 40 minutes on a trampoline even as he screamed and tried to get down. Eventually he fell smacking his shins on the metal edge of the trampoline. McCarthy is charged with other alleged assaults on autistic children in his class. If McCarthy did as alleged then I hope that he is convicted on the felony charges and serves some serious jail time.

Hopefully too, the neurodiversity ideologues can explain to us how this 12 year old autistic boy's inability to communicate is not a disability. When this boy, and the middle aged autistic woman in a New York residential home who could not communicate, are subjected to criminal abuse and can't tell the world it is absurd to deny that they are low functioning or that their autism disorders are not disabilities.

Autism Abuse in Iowa, What We've Got Here Is A Failure To Communicate

"What we've got here is failure to communicate."
— spoken by "The Captain", played by Strother Martin , Cool Hand Luke

"What we've got here is a failure to communicate."
— spoken by "Luke", played by Paul Newman, Cool Hand Luke


In School Leader Defends Time Out the Des Moines Register reports on the explanation offered by the superintendent of the Waukee school district for the placement of an autistic school child in a "time out" room for more than three hours, even after she wet herself and even after she had struggled to obey the rules so that she could be let out. The superintendent states that the district will not change its policies concerning time out use, urges parents to be more involved in their children's schooling (implicitly blame the parents), and points out that some children want to go to time out. It is clear from the superintendent's explanation that he has missed the point of the reaction to his district's treatment of this autistic child.

"I wanted to reassure our parents that their children are going to be looked out for and cared for in the most appropriate way," he said Wednesday. "I think the article gave the impression we're taking kids willy-nilly down to these timeout rooms, and that's not the case and certainly never has been."
...

"Your child WILL NOT utilize a timeout room without your prior permission nor without you having the opportunity to view the timeout room," he wrote in the letter to parents.

The superintendent fails to understand that it is not the use of a time out room with an autistic child per se that created the outrage in this instance. It is leaving the child in the room for such a long period of time even after she has wet herself and even after she has struggled to comply with the rules. That is what was wrong in this case, it is HOW the time out room was used that was offensive in this case.

The superintendent, if he is truly an educator, and the district, might educate themselves about autism. Some autistic children should not be "mainstreamed". I do not know this child's abilities or deficits and do not pretend to know whether she should be in a mainstream classroom on a full time basis. But where the Des Moines paper indicates that she has frequently been sent to time out it is possible that she is overwhelmed by her classroom environment and might function better in a quieter, more isolated environment. She could then be brought into the classroom for specific activities and for defined periods of time.

My profoundly autistic son was overwhelmed by his classroom environment and was biting his wrists each day at school. He was removed to a more isolated location and the biting stopped and his learning, with an aide, improved. He visits the classroom for socialization, for specific activities within his range of abilities and for defined periods of time. Some of his peers visit in his area as well to engage him in activities such as reading buddies.

I am not suggesting that what worked for my son would necessarily work for this child in Iowa. Each child's situation should be looked at on its facts. But repeated resort to a time out room, and use of the time out for more than 3 hours, even after a child has wet herself and has struggled to comply is wrong. And it tells me that whatever plan exists for this autistic child's education is not working. The district and parents should probably re-examine that plan and consult with autism knowledgeable professionals about a possible re-design.

The superintendent, unfortunately, seems more interested in proving that the district is right, and in maintaining the district's legal stance for their appeal, then in learning from this bad experience.

Autistic Woman Beaten By Attendants in Group Home

As a human being the atrocities committed against a low functioning autistic woman by employees in a New York group home are sickening.

It is difficult to imagine that there are such disgusting excuses for human beings walking this planet and that they are able to find employment in a group home with vulnerable residents.

As a father of a low functioning autistic boy whose future will include some level of institutional care it is terrifying to read what these thugs did to this helpless woman.

This poor soul could not speak for herself. And the animals who savaged her knew it. Perhaps video cameras in all areas of institutions with non communicative residents should be mandatory. So that the videos can speak for them when they are subject to abuse.

Newsday, Auust 18, 2007

An autistic resident of a Long Island group home was beaten with a shoe and a wooden coat hanger, slapped in the head and kicked by several employees whose vicious assaults were captured by a hidden video camera, Nassau County police said.

The helpless 50-year-old victim was battered repeatedly at the PLUS Group Home Inc. by at least four employees after one of their co-workers alerted police to possible mistreatment of the residents inside the Uniondale facility, police said.

Group home management then installed the camera inside air conditioning vents at the home, according to Terri Cancilla, executive director of the PLUS Group Home Inc.

...

Authorities said the victim can not speak or convey emotions or pain because of her disease, which is characterized by impaired social interaction.

Autism Abuse in Iowa - 3 Hours in a Locked Room is Not a Time Out - It is Child Abuse

Des Moines Register Image From Video of 8 Year Old Isabel Loeffler During "Time Out.

Here is a message for the clueless officials at an elementary school in Waukee Iowa - there is no such thing as a 3 hour "time out". Locking an autistic child in a room by herself for 3 hours even leaving her there after she wets herself is not a time out, it is not educating or helping the child, it is child abuse pure and simple.

Here is another message for the so called educators in the Waukee district and the Heartland Area Education Agency who believe they did nothing wrong and who are appealing the ruling against them over the matter by an administrative judge - you are in the wrong profession. Do something else which does not involve children. You lack the ability to understand when you are hurting them.

As reported in the DesMoines Register the 8 year old girl wet her pants and struggled to obey but still wasn't let out of the room. Her parents were shocked to see a video of their child in the room out of control even hitting herself. The parents withdrew the child from the school and retained legal counsel.

http://desmoinesregister.com/

Autism and ABA Abuse of Autistic Children - A Case Study, Part 1

Conor, 1999, Age 3 1/2 - before being exposed to ABA intervention





Conor, 2006, Age 10 1/2 - after several years of ABA intervention





An oft heard criticism of ABA is that ABA robs an autistic child of his/her true nature or identity, depriving them of an essential part of their personality, and thus constituting a form of abuse. In this case study, the top picture above, 1999, before Conor was exposed to ABA intervention, shows a happy smiling boy. The bottom picture above, however, 2006, after several years of ABA intervention shows a .... well .... uh .... a happy smiling boy.

Evil, Pure Evil

This story of abuse and betrayal as reported in the Toronto Star is disgusting and horrifying beyond belief. These are acts of evil, pure evil. The only bright light in this dark and true story? The child is reported to have recovered significantly since being placed with Children's Aid.

Mother, 6 men accused in abuse of girl

Molesters gave crack cocaine to 12-year-old, police allege

May 04, 2007 04:30 AM
Henry Stancu
Staff Reporter

Six men and the mother of a 12-year-old developmentally challenged girl have been charged in what police call a "horrendous" case of child sexual abuse.

Investigators allege the victim was given crack cocaine for various sex acts at her Rexdale home by numerous men over the course of a year.

"It's something I don't think many of us in policing have seen and many in the community are quite frankly going to be outraged," said Toronto police Supt. Ron Taverner.

Youth bureau officers from 23 division station in Etobicoke began probing the case on Jan. 2, focusing on a unit in a housing complex near Rexdale Blvd. and Hwy. 27.

Police learned a developmentally delayed girl living with her mother was being routinely molested in the home that served as a safe haven, or crack house, for users and dealers of cocaine and other drugs.

"It was some very horrendous acts that were taking place on this poor victim. My information is that it was going on quite frequently," Taverner said.

A medical examination of the child revealed cocaine in her system.

"I think we're all outraged that these sort of things are taking place. This shouldn't be happening in our society," added Taverner.

On Tuesday, police arrested the girl's 42-year-old mother, who cannot be identified to protect the child's privacy.

Investigators had to get the provincial attorney general's consent to charge the woman with the rare infraction of corrupting children.

"It took several months to get that permission," Taverner said.

Because police had only street names when they began tracking down suspects, and because it took time to apply for the child corruption charge, investigators were unable to move more swiftly on the allegations.

The young victim is in the care of the Toronto Children's Aid Society and has "has improved immensely" already, said Taverner.

More suspects are being sought in the attacks on the girl, police said.

Those currently charged are:

Harold Cover, 55, of Mississauga; sexual assault, sexual interference, invitation to sexual touching and trafficking cocaine.

Radcliffe Parchment, 19, of Toronto; sexual assault, sexual interference, and invitation to sexual touching.

Muralee Balasubramaniam, 50, no fixed address; sexual assault, sexual interference, weapons dangerous, an assault with intent to resist arrest.

Neil Rose, 44, of Brampton; sexual assault and sexual interference.

Dennis Guthrie, 52, of Whitby; sexual assault and sexual interference.

Linton Lewis, 47, of Brampton; sexual assault and sexual interference.