Is this their idea of a Cure?

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This is a few of the stories that I was able to find online in just a half an hours time. I imagine (if I would have spent the time to look) there are many, many more that could have been added.

(I put these true accounts on one of my websites under the title The Killing of Innocent Lambs.) I wanted to share them with you.

Is this their idea of Curing Autism?

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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Modern society is such that we have tremendous variety of choices when it comes to our lives, from our clothes and occupations, all the way to our site of living, which was historically determined by a persons place of birth. Powerless to be born, powerless to life, and powerless against the final struggle has been the norm for society for virtually all of human existence. In the postmodern age, that has changed dramatically, particularly the power of choice in life. People choose their jobs, their homes, and can change this if they so wish. This means that everything has become disposable, for instance, the land, natural resources, and even people themselves. What is disposed is those who cannot interact well enough to get what they want and need, so they are simply cast aside and forgotten, because of the perception that they cannot contribute to society.

Many of us have been cast aside and forgotten many times, some too many to count, simply because we cannot interact effectively or are too different for people to see through.
Many of you have been discriminated against, blatantly, for these reasons, in jobs, school, and social relations.
Many of you are tired beyond endurance of struggling for life, and have eked only meager rewards for herculean effort.
Some of you have children, who you have the hope of the world for, but will probably not succeed in life because they are not perceived as being able to contribute to society.

We have no advocates.

We have no champions.

We will never have others do the above for us.

Therefore, it is our prerogative and ours alone to crusade for a change in society.

More programs for the autistic will not change anything, nor will the establishment of an austic culture. The culture will simply be too different for virtually all NT’s to comprehend or even want to comprehend. Even the most successful culture, the Deaf culture, has failed to secure any positive changes for the deaf save more awareness of signing. For this reason, I believe that the greatest chance of success will come from the largest possible coalition of “disabled” groups. It is one thing to feel good in ones culture; it is a far more noble and heroic thing to use that culture to push for change, so that we have a future to look forward to.

I do not believe such an effort will do much everlasting change; but we must try. It is worth it, so that the world can see that we posess dignity and honor, and that we bleed like any other person. We must also show that we are not just to be pitied, but show real triumph and tragedy.

If you really wanted me to believe that, I have some property in Timbuktu I'd like to sell you.

We have no advocates.

We have no champions.


Hahaha
So, Bill Gates, Albert Einstien, Keanu Reeves and all the other famous people with conditions are not counted?

Nobody to monitor the property?

They do not admit to having it, nor do they do anything that I know of. . .

I knew you were all kidding!

Monastic is not kidding

Well, the rest of you were kidding about Timbuktu.

Okay after going through this post and re-reading how I phrased it, I can now see why you were confused as to whether I was joking or not, larsenjw92286. It is so hard sometimes for me to put into words my feelings and make myself understood by others. I’m sorry I was being sarcastic about the whole idea of curing autism by eliminating the person with autism.

It’s just that I really don’t understand why autism puts such fear into the neurotypical majority.
Neurodiversity to me has been a good thing in the world….those that can see things in a different light or perspective, thinking “outside the box” have made such a great impact on everyones lives. To know that people are so afraid of those that are different/unique and that they feel threatened by those differences just doesn’t seem logical. Why are differences seen as threatening? It seems as if autistics aren’t the only ones afraid of change.

Anyway, I wanted to apologize for not being more clear.

Prometheus, your post was absolutely awesome. I have printed it out and put it next to my computer, so that I can read if often. Your post is action inspiring to me and I will make it my Creed. Thank you so much

Prometheus,

Excellent, excellent post.

And very,very sad.

I disagree a point. I beleive society waxes and wanes on its level of tolerance, level of inclusion. Right now we are in a mean time, a selfish time, a controlling time. One is with the majority or one is an enemy of the majority, in the majority's view.

It wasn't always like this and it won't continue this way.

I beleive, hope, pray, that each time society "loops" though, it learns more and becomes more tolerant and more educated.

I need to beleive that.

Excellent thread, by the way, monastic.

I just wish that many of the parents didn't consider "Autism" as a death sentece. It's sad. Think of how many of those kids might have grown up to be as functional as, say, us on this forum.

So sad.

Sometimes it IS the parents thinking ASD is so terrible. Often though, I think its society right now. The parents need help...they might be tired of being blamed by some some members of society, tired of fighting for services or understanding. They reach out for help and what do they find? Nuts that hurt them and their children or no help at all.

As much as it hurts me to say this, aome of the members of the board aren't funtioning that well, arent' happy.

If you heard, every single day, that your child would be unhappy for the rest of his/her life, it would be too easy to follow the nuts who claim they can help.

What I want is a more a society that has a wider range of acceptance and a helping hand. And I want it now.

I agree. The media isn't helping the parents by adding to all this and stressing only the bad, bad, bad of Autism. And so they see this and they end up thinking there's no hope.

I was upset about the whole thing on NBC awhile ago and the owner or chair of the network, I think it was, whose grandson developed Autism. And his wife was absolutely sickening, truly. She would only say "Well, we had this little perfect beautiful boy. He was learning to talk, blah, blah, blah, and then one day, he just disappeared into this horrible, horrible, horrible disease." NBC is now VERY pro-Cure.

The only refreshing segment was one on a Nobel Prize-winning economist who has Aspergers. That's it. All the rest was so incredibly negative. And the parents all seemed like "Why did this happen to me?"

Monastic, the one about the 15 year old student sounds just like an accident. Why did you put that one in there?
I know at least one who has been killed in Australia, by their parents. He was 10, iirc, and his mother fed him insect poison to kill him. She was sent to jail, of course. She just cracked. And really, I don't think you should take most of the ones about parents to heart. They aren't deliberate, cold rational killings. Its like a mother who is suffering post-natal depression killing her child. They aren't themselves, their mental state is altered by pressure, constant irritation etc. If you know what I mean.
Sure its wrong, but don't hate them, and take it as proof that NT's have it out for autistics, as it were. Or, as you have done, that all desires to cure autism is amount to wanting to kill your child.

Danlo, it’s my frustration is with the way things have become…it’s my frustration that cries out for change.

I hear; “Conform or be thrown out. Conform or be rejected. Conform or be ignored. Conform or be homeless/jobless/without acceptance. Conform!”

My soul screams out NO!

Let me be the person I’m meant to be! Let me live my life without your restraints so that I may grow and become the unique individual I am to be!

By demanding me to conform, to be and act like the rest of society, you are binding me.
And…
Bound with your restraints on the essence of who I need to become and held down like this (to what society wants me to be) my spirit will expire, just like the life of that dear 15 year old boy….my spirit will die. I refuse to let this happen.

I know we are not hated by all neurotypicals, just very misunderstood (and feared, for some odd reason) and I understand that the caretakers and parents that have done these awful things are not in their right minds.

But can you imagine these children and how they must feel? Knowing that the only person in the whole world they have to look to for love and acceptance is embarrassed of them, would rather they were someone else and cannot love them unconditionally? It breaks my heart to imagine what the children go through. That’s what keeps me calling out for change. I have to try…I must try.