Wampum

Perfect Victims

I have been watching the trial of Ray Hemphill on Court TV. Hemphill is the school janitor and part time “minister” who presided over an alleged “exorcism” or "prayer session" of autistic eight-year-old Terrance Cottrell. That “prayer session” ended with the child’s death. I have previously written about the tragedy here and here. I will report the Hemphill verdict once the jury completes its task.

While watching the trial, I was reminded of exactly how vulnerable autistics are to accident, crime, abuse, and cruelty. It is in the nature of the disability that autistics are perfect victims.

For instance, any four-year old walking down the street with his grandfather and who spies his Dad walking on the other side of the street might dart towards his Dad and be hit by a car.

Christian Castillio, a four-year-old autistic boy died in such an incident recently. While any four-year-old might run into the street, such accidents are more likely to occur to an autistic child. Autistic kids are more self-focused, less aware of dangers, and lack judgment. My own son once left the house on his own and was found, half dressed, in the middle of the street walking in the direction of a busy intersection, completely oblivious to any danger. Our doors now have key operated dead bolts and remain locked at all times.

Not only does autism make accidents more likely, routine, everyday sorts of crimes may have a greater impact on autistics than on neurologically typical people. It is distressing for anyone to have a burglar break in and steal stuff. When that happens to an autistic child, the results may go far beyond the simple loss of property.

Elliot Walters is a 12-year-old autistic from Scotland. Burglars recently broke into his house and stole video games, jewelry and other items. Among the stolen items was a computer that allowed Elliot to communicate. His autism prevents him from speaking and the computer speech machine “enabled Elliot … for the first time in his life to put his thoughts into words and take part in school lessons.”

Elliot’s mother Suzanne said: “Everybody is absolutely devastated. It’s unbelievable.

“He was so successful in using it and we were so pleased with the outcome. With this he could actually say ’This is what I want’.

“He got to 12 years of age before we heard him make any vocal comments of his own choice. They have effectively taken away his voice.”

Fortunately, a local charity replaced the machine.

One characteristic of autism is a lack of social skills. Autistics act differently and their behavior may attract unwanted attention. Awkward and strange behavior can be a magnet for bullies.

Simon Taaffe, an eighteen-year-old autistic from Scotland, was unfortunate to encounter a group of such bullies. The judge in the subsequent criminal case described Simon as “a vulnerable, trusting and harmless person … academically about seven to 10 years in age, emotionally, too.”

Simon met three teenage bullies. They punched, hit and kicked him. He had a tooth knocked out. They then stripped him naked and threw him out onto the street. Why did they assault Simon? “Just for fun.”

It is more distressing when it is adults who abuse autistic kids “just for fun.”

In Australia, an Adult Training and Support Center is being investigated for abusing intellectually disabled adults.

An intellectually disabled man was taped to a chair and gagged while others in need were left for hours in their own urine, according to allegations by staff at one of Queensland's most prominent charity organisations…

The Australian has learnt the allegations include instances of leaving a woman who had urinated in her clothes unattended for several hours; yelling and verbally abusing disabled adults; deliberately shocking an autistic man with loud noise, causing him to go into a panic; and throwing the clothes of a woman who had undressed into a toilet cubicle while she screamed in confusion.

Another allegation involved a man being taped to a chair and gagged.

In Israel, the autism ward of a hospital has been closed after suspicions of patient abuse arose:

The Ministry of Health closed the autism ward of Jerusalem's Eitanim Mental Hospital following suspicions that the staff was abusing patients.

The ministry's inspection committee found, among other infractions, that members of the staff dressed one of the patients in women's underwear, forced other patients to eat their meals off the floor and forbade patients to speak or move as punishments.

Minister of Health Dan Naveh suspended all suspected staff members from their positions and forwarded the committee's findings to the police.

The patients will be moved to other facilities.

Autistics also suffer from the ignorance, lack of training and even cruelty of some people placed in positions of authority.

While at school in Perth, Australia, a 12-year-old autistic boy was locked in a cage sixty times in a six month period.

The autistic boy was properly separated from the class for hitting and pushing other students. Even putting aside the issue of whether it is ever appropriate to lock a boy up in a cage, he was often locked up for trivial behaviors. The boy was locked in the cage 23 times simply “for rocking, grunting and being edgy.”

Rocking, making noises, and being “edgy” are just part of the autistic terrain and warrant no punishment whatsoever, much less being locked in a cage like an animal.

Closer to home, a New Jersey couple responsible for caring for an autistic adult have been found guilty of starving their charge to death:

A couple from the mid-Hudson Valley has been convicted of starving an autistic man to death.

Phil Payne and his wife Darlene, both 46, of Unionville face up to 15 years in prison for second-degree manslaughter for the November 2001 death of John Ward, 56.

Ward … moved in with the Paynes in 1992… Ward weighed 80 pounds when his body was found in the Payne home, about 78 miles northwest of New York City.

In North Carolina, an autistic man died in police custody, suffocating in his own vomit:

An autistic man who died after he was arrested choked on his own vomit, said the pathologist who conducted an autopsy.

The cause of death for Sidney Templeton, 44, was "gastric aspiration due to severe agitation due to autism," said Dr. Patrick Lantz, who performed the autopsy.

Statesville police were called to Templeton's home Saturday by his mother, Mary Templeton, who said her son hit her after becoming upset with a new home health care aide.

Officers arrived around 5:20 p.m. and found the aide in her car and Sidney Templeton circling it, said Statesville Police Chief Stephen Hampton.

Templeton assaulted and spit on the officers, who restrained him with handcuffs, leg restraints and a special hood to protect them from potential blood-borne pathogens in his saliva, Hampton said.

Once at the Iredell County jail, Templeton struggled with officers as they attempted to get him out of the police car. When he choked, officers removed his restraints and began performing CPR before a rescue vehicle arrived to take him to a hospital, the sheriff said…

Lantz said autistic people can become severely agitated when their routines are disrupted. People who become so upset they choke on or inhale their vomit almost always have an underlying medical condition, such as psychiatric or neurological disorders, or are intoxicated, said Lantz, a forensic pathologist at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem.

A healthy person most likely would cough up the vomit, Lantz said.

Autism is a developmental disorder characterized by problems with speech and language, interacting with others and controlling emotions. Mary Templeton said her son did not speak.

Mary Templeton said Sunday she had called police during previous outbursts by her son and that officers took him to the hospital. Hampton did not say why officers decided to take Templeton to jail instead of a hospital.

I very much doubt that the police intended to harm Templeton and they surely are entitled to be protected from the transmission of disease. Nonetheless, I can not help but think that better training in how to deal with an autistic having a meltdown could have avoided the death.

I wish I could say that it was difficult to find the above examples of how autistics are perfect victims. I can not. I simply put “autistic” into Google News and each of the above stories was in the first several pages of listings. Each of those stories ran in the last several days. I often run Google News searches for “autism” or “autistic” and I very rarely fail to see such stories.

As a society, we often make extra efforts to protect the perfect victims. Banks put money in vaults. Convenience store clerks work behind bullet-proof glass and put large bills in a safe. We lower the speed limit around road construction work. We need special efforts to protect autistics because they are perfect victims.

The answer usually lies in education and supervision. If you are a POA, visit your child’s school often and sometimes unannounced. Find out who is running that summer program. Do not leave your child with anyone unprepared for the responsibility. Make sure the police in your area are trained in dealing with autism. Perfect victims need extra supervision.

One of the most troubling aspects of the death of Terrence Cottrell is that his mother was present during the prayer services. She turned her autistic son over to ignorant and irresponsible people but she was present to supervise the activity. Even under constant, direct parental supervision an autistic child can end up a perfect victim. That is a disturbing thought.

Posted by Dwight Meredith at July 9, 2004 12:04 AM | TrackBack