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Rosa Parks passed away on Monday, October 24, 2005. She was 92 years old. For those of you who are unfamiliar with her story, I have posted a little bit on her life.
Nearly 50 years ago, Rosa Parks with one small act, started a revolution. A white man demanded she give up her seat on a Montgomery, Ala., bus, which was at the time, considered to be a routine matter and a rightful action to take, that is, if you were white. Rosa then 42 years old, said no.
There was no way she could have known that her decision would make history. This one defiant act inspired and moved a generation of activists, including a young Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and earned her the title "mother of the civil rights movement."
In 1955, Jim Crow laws (in place in America, since the post-Civil War Reconstruction) required separation of the races in buses, restaurants and public accommodations throughout the South, while legally sanctioned racial discrimination kept African Americans from obtaining jobs and buying homes in predominately white neighborhoods in the North.
Her arrest started a 381-day boycott of the bus system organized by a then little-known Baptist minister, the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., who later earned the Nobel Peace Prize for his work.
"At the time I was arrested I had no idea it would turn into this," Rosa said 30 years later. "It was just a day like any other day. The only thing that made it significant was that the masses of the people joined in."
Rosa Parks was a woman that was thrust into advocacy for equality and fair equal treatment of all African Americans. I have heard it said that Rosa was merely tired and her feet hurting after a long day of working as a seamstress and happened to be seated on a bus taking her home for the evening. When a white man demanded that Rosa get up so that he could sit down (a rule that was acceptable to the laws and governments at the time) Rosa refused and stayed firmly in her seat. She was arrested for this defiant act. If Rosa would have just complied, gotten up and given the man her seat, her life would have went on as it had always done without being thrust into history. Through this one act of defiance though, Rosa had rocked the boat – she was not going with the flow or with the system of things…..she had caused a “situation” to occur. By staying seated, Rosa Parks had made a stand.
Why, you may wonder, is the passing of this person relevant in our lives as autistics? Many of us on a daily basis, are looking at discrimination and unfair actions being done to autistics. Many of us are just going with the flow or system of things. “What can I do? I’m just one person?” some of us may think. “I can’t change the way things are done,” some might also believe. I just want us to all look at Rosa Parks’ life and think of how just this one person making a stand started a domino effect – crashing through “the way things have always been done.” I want us to realize that it does start with one small person, doing one small act.
Rosa Parks’ life was hard it seems even after this act of defiance. She and her husband had trouble finding work and many other things happened to her possibly because of her decision. Although Rosa Parks inspired many, I can’t help but think she probably just wanted to live a normal life. I heard in a news report today as they were speaking to her, she said something to the effect of, I just didn’t want to be mistreated anymore but I knew if I didn’t do something, the abuse would just continue.
Today, I hope we remember Rosa Parks and her small act that made a big impact on all of our lives. Today I also want us to remember those that are currently at the forefront of a battle for acceptance and equal treatment and services for Autistics. Those that have been thrust into situations, that I’m sure they would rather not be in but for the simple fact that they know, if they don’t do something, the abuse will just continue. Here’s to Michelle Dawson, Janet Norman-Bain, Jim Sinclair, Amanda Baggs, Donna Williams, Bonnie Ventura, Frank Klein, Jerry Newport and Kathleen Seidel (may she stay strong amongst the wolves that lie in wait). Of course there are many, many others some unknown/unsung. What would we do without these countless heroes that strive daily for equal treatment, services and respect and acceptance of neurodiversity?
I have heard of three recent murders of Autistic children. The first, is the murder of a little 3 year old girl strangled with a Plastic Bag by her own mother which is reported to be a Therapist that (supposedly) helped other autistic children. It was said (by the murderers friends and family members) that the woman was frustrated because of her child's supposed inability to communicate. Little three year olds can be very demanding and I'm sure if you have a whole list of expectations for your young child in hopes of forcing them to conform to the way everyone else's children learns, you will become frustrated. That's because autistic children just do not learn in the same time frame or the same way as "everyone else." My own son and my grandson were well past three before they used words in communicating their thoughts to me. Autistic children DO communicate though, you just have to learn a "different" way of communication.
The murdering therapist was no monster (her family and friends state) but then, what kind of a human being does this sort of thing to an innocent little three year old? All this little one knew and trusted was her mother to help her navigate through the world. I am disgusted by this barbaric treatment by someone that just should have known better.
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Another recent bit of news is about a couple that left their 19 year old son in a locked home and set fire to the home and walked away knowing full well their son was deadbolted in (even the windows were locked!) and would perish in the flames. I'm not sure what type of human being would do this to another human being simply because they do not think as you do. They say that autistics have no empathy for others but I don't know ANY that would commit such a horrible act.
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The last horrendous act committed recently was the murder of a 12 year old boy that his own mother sent to his death and then she plunged off of the same bridge to her own demise. This murder/suicide was talked about as if it was an honorable act by groups that supposedly care about autistic children and adults and even call themselves autistic advocates when in reality, the only thing they are advocating is the murder of autistics!
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A 5-year-old autistic boy died after undergoing a controversial medical treatment in a Butler County doctor's office.
The child died Tuesday August 23, 2005, at Butler Memorial Hospital after going into cardiac arrest while he was receiving his third treatment of chelation therapy.
Chelation therapy involves the repeated administration of a synthetic amino acid known as EDTA -- ethylene diamine tetra-acetic acid -- which, according to supporters of the practice, removes atherosclerotic plaque and other mineral deposits from the cardiovascular system.
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a 19-year old girl died in 1990 at the Judge Rotenberg Center after it was concluded that JRC/BRI direct care staff, nursing staff, and administration, as well as several specific staff members, took actions that were "inhumane beyond all reason" and constituted not only violations of legal standards but violations of "universal standards of human decency." Abuse and violations of DMR regulations were also found in the woman's treatment by JRC/BRI prior to her death.
The Judge Rotenberg Center has been the source of controversy for years because of its heavy use of "aversives," which involve physically punishing people with mental retardation or autism to influence their behavior.
The girl, which was not verbal, began showing signs and symptoms of illness on December 15 and 16,1990: she refused her food (she had always had a hearty appetite), she was restless and fidgety and made unusual noises. By December 17, she was pale, disoriented, had "glassy eyes," and kept attempting unsuccessfully to vomit. During this time, because staff mistook her attempts to communicate her pain and discomfort for "target behaviors," she was punished repeatedly -- forced to smell ammonia, spanked, pinched, and forced to eat "taste aversives" -- either a vinegar mix, or jalapeno peppers or hot sauce.
From 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., even though staff knew she was "not herself," her punishments escalated dramatically. By 7:00 p.m. she had received 8 spankings, 27 finger pinches, 14 muscle squeezes and had been forced to inhale ammonia at least five times and given several taste aversives, even though she was "obviously ill." In fact, she was receiving so many aversives that staff requested and were granted permission to increase her aversives from 40 per day to 95 per day. She received a total of 61 aversives on the day that she died. The young girl had always disliked the aversives, and was terrified of the ammonia, but protests or attempts to avoid them simply led to more punishment.
A program the center had her on limited her food intake to as few as 300 calories a day, 20% of her minimum calorie intake for the day. A dietary expert consulted by the investigator stated that it was impossible to maintain the woman's health on 300 calories a day, and that she needed at least 1737 calories a day to maintain her lowest acceptable weight, 108 pounds. Although JRC/BRI was under a court order to ensure that her weight did not slip below 90% of ideal body weight, the autopsy report showed that the girl, who had weighed 125 pounds when she was put on the food program less than a year before her death, weighed 90 pounds. In less than a year, she had lost 35 pounds, 28% of her body weight.
In addition, although DMR regulations permit the use of intrusive and severe aversives such as spanking and ammonia for "seriously dangerous behaviors," the woman was punished when she displayed the following behaviors: "Drooling, spitting, nagging, stopping work, refusing, silly laughing. She was deprived of food for merely having the wrong answer on the computer."
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A 15-year-old autistic student died after allegedly becoming combative and being consequently restrained by staff at Parchment High School.
The student started out the day well, but sometime that morning, the sophomore experienced a seizure. He seemed to recover, but later he supposedly became combative, apparently striking out at others.
At least four staff members at the high school apparently tried to quiet the teen, each grabbing one of his limbs and sitting down on the ground with him inside a large room behind the school's auditorium. They say he appeared to calm down.
"At this point, while one of the aides was talking to him, he closed his eyes Immediately, they realized something was definitely wrong, and they activated 911."
Emergency personnel worked on the teen for at least 35 minutes. The child was taken to Bronson Methodist Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
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An autistic 8-year-old boy died while wrapped in sheets during a prayer service held to “exorcise the evil spirits” that church members blamed for his condition.
The minister who performed the service was arrested in connection with the death, which occurred Friday night at a church in strip mall.
The mother had been taking her son to the Church three times a week for the last three weeks in hopes of curing his autism.
It was after more than an hour of prayer that a parishioner noticed the boy was no longer moving and called emergency workers. The boy's grandmother said force was used, an allegation disputed by church members.
The boy's grandmother said the boy had been restrained.
“They held the boy down, they held him down until ... he went to a smothery grave,” the grandmother told television station WTMJ.
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In new Zealand a mother was charged for the killing of her own autistic daughter. The child was 17 years old when her mother tried to get the daughter to jump off a bridge, but then strangled her with a bathrobe cord after her daughter refused to jump.
The child, it is reported needed constant supervision. As autistic children do in order to meet their sensory needs, she rocked and spun, and had ripped her clothes and bed linen. Also, she wetted her bed. The mother explained how she strangled her daughter with a bathrobe cord and told her she was sending her to heaven. She told of how she struggled to bring up the child, whose behaviour she felt was out of control, until she feared she was on the brink of insanity.
She had driven her daughter to a bridge and urged her to jump off. She said she had "foolishly" expected her daughter would "climb up and throw herself off" the railing, but the girl had refused.
Albury-Thomson said she had then realised that she would have to kill her daughter herself. She drove back home with her daughter to look for something to do it with and found the bathrobe cord. "I wrapped it around her neck and pulled ... then I wrapped it around and pulled again ... and then again, all in different directions, and kept thinking, this isn't happening quickly enough. ... She didn't die quickly and I held on tight, saying `let go, for God's sake let go', and telling her I loved her."
After killing her child, she drove to a police station with her daughter's body in the car, and confessed. In statements to police, she said she had no regrets about killing her daughter and had contemplated it many times. "I did it. I strangled my daughter. She was a misfit. People were scared of her because she was different," she said. "I wish it could have been quicker. I'd wanted to kill her for a long time."
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This case bears depressing similarities to an earlier, similar case that took place in Montréal, Canada, in 1996, when an autistic boy was drowned by his own mother. She also claimed despair and was acquitted of murder in 1997, and subsequently occupied a position at the Québec Autism Society.
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