Idaho police officers opened fire from behind a chain-link fence just seconds after exiting their patrol cars and critically wounded a teenage boy — described by his family as nonverbal, autistic and intellectually disabled — as he stepped toward them with a knife, video from a witness shows.
Seventeen-year-old Victor Perez, who also has cerebral palsy, remained hospitalized in critical condition Tuesday after having nine bullets removed from his body and having his leg amputated, Ana Vazquez, his aunt, told The Associated Press. Doctors were planning tests on his brain activity.
The shooting Saturday in Pocatello outraged the boy’s family and neighbors as well as viewers online who questioned why the officers opened fire within about 12 seconds of exiting their patrol cars while making no apparent effort to de-escalate the situation or use less lethal weapons. Dozens of protesters gathered outside the police department Sunday, eastidahonews.com reported.
As the father of a 12 year old autistic boy this world scares me. I’m not going to be damning of the police, many of you have already done this. I will be damning of our society pushing these kids to the fringe at the benefit of no one. More often than not programs for autistic children involve other autistic children which is not what we need. We need neurotypical children having more sustained interactions with autistic children and neurotypical adults with more sustained interactions with autistic adults.
I will argue (probably successfully) that 99% of neurotypical people that engage with autistic people is because they’re related to them or they’re paid to interact with them. That is a problem.
We are not solving the problem.
Mine is 11. He goes to school with the neurotypical kids. I suppose it helps in that for the most part he “knows” how he is supposed to act. But he doesn’t really apply any forward thinking to his actions. So it hasn’t shaped his behaviour much at all. We just hope that in 2 or 3 years, when some maturity hits, maybe he will have some base to work from. But we don’t know if he will ever develope that filter on his actions that everyone needs.
If neurotypical people would take a few minutes each day to think about those other than themselves, neurodiverse people might not have the problems we do in living in this world.
I dunno. I don’t think it is that easy for them. The only frame of reference they have is themselves. They can’t comprehend the drastic difference between the typical and atipical minds. And at the same time, they are inundated with various forms of media telling them what they are supposed to value in a personality. Essentially they are indoctrinated against neurodiverse people like us. Those doing the indoctrinating are really really good at it. Most people just don’t stand a chance against that.
Oh even more neurotypicals look at “The Good Doctor” and be like “that’s autistic people I get that!” And fuck off it’s the farthest thing to what autism looks like.
Exactly.
So here in Ontario we have a thing called “community class” which my son is a part of. It’s basically a class where all the disabled kids are thrown. The thing is my son does not know “how to act” nor can he learn it My oldest is your traditional Aspergers which I think is what you are referring to. That is very much a fake it until you make it in that they will learn.
Point being. Many autistic kids are very me “the other” and no amount of school will teach them. Those kids are fucked. They will never integrate. Neurotypicals will never get them.
Yeah, mine is lvl 1 which used to be aspergers. He doesn’t fit with most of the autistic molds. He is extremely aware of other people’s emotions. But the part of his brain that would shape his behaviour based on what he is aware of is just busted most of the time. Kinda like it is overridden by even the slightest idea in his head. Anyway, for the others… all we can hope for is some medical advancement that can help them some day.