Comments on: Another attempted murder, a call for restraint and responsibility

By: GMAC

GMAC — Sat, 24 Jun 2006 13:57:25 +0000

Not another! And in my area, as well. It makes me truly sick to read these stories, and I have zero empathy for the mothers involved. The mothers are attempting the “oh poor me, I have(had) a disabled child” defense, but THIS mom ain’t buying it.
The Autism Speaks video? My regret is that I can’t get back the fifteen minutes it took to watch it. Don’t get me started…

By: Kassiane

Kassiane — Fri, 23 Jun 2006 21:49:36 +0000

ANSWERS needs to get a taste of their own medicine. They’re really disgusting. The way they talk about their kids, the way they treat their kids…the Peoria Play Project families are a lot less gross, and have happier kids.

I can give the address and phone number to anyone interested in giving them a dose of reality…they meet on the 1st (I think 1st) Tuesday of the month at 7 PM.

And someone made the mistake of asking me what my “beef” is with AutismWeeps. They got a whole buffalo.

By: sndrake

sndrake — Fri, 23 Jun 2006 13:47:23 +0000

It’s possible the controversy is about to go public. When I issued the press release, I emailed it to journalists, editors and columnists at the Chicago Tribune, the Peoria Journal-Star and the Springfield Journal-Register.

I received a call today from the lead reporter on this case from the Peoria newspaper. Not very friendly and on the defensive. Not liking the criticism, but this new and ugly reality makes it impossible to ignore.

I stuck pretty close to the script of the release, and didn’t use (as much as I was tempted) phrases like “support group from hell.”

I don’t expect this to be a “win” for our perspective – it will be (gag) “balanced.” But the fact that the ANSWERS folks and the Autism Society are being criticized will now become public (I hope).

–Stephen

By: Kassiane

Kassiane — Fri, 23 Jun 2006 12:50:37 +0000

OK, so how do we get that study to the dumbasses in Peoria who are writing all this baloney? Waa waaa. It’s harder being different than it is being the parent of someone different.

It’s an epidemic of murders. A tsunami, train wreck, and a national emergency. But you don’t see all the organizations that say that about PEOPLE using those words. No, they’re too busy being sensitive to the killers.

It’s days like today that it’s a VERY good thing I don’t live in Peoria.

By: Janna’s Thoughts… » Blog Archive » Complaints and Responsibility.

Fri, 23 Jun 2006 11:29:50 +0000

[…] Well, there’ve been a couple of recent Autism Hub posts about people not taking responsibility for their own actions. (See Autism Vox and Ballastexistenz.) […]

By: ballastexistenz

ballastexistenz — Fri, 23 Jun 2006 10:45:11 +0000

I would not be surprised, about the school shootings. I went to a school where a school shooting had happened, but it wasn’t well-known the way Columbine was well-known. And I know someone who almost did a school shooting in the sixties or seventies but stopped themselves.

And copycat crimes are a well-known phenomenon.

And yes… viewing that stuff as the “context” for these crimes is ridiculous.

By: Tera

Tera — Fri, 23 Jun 2006 10:01:03 +0000

Researcher Dick Sobsey has documented an increase in the murders of children by their parents in Canada in relation to well-publicized and sympathetic coverage of the murders of children with disabilities.

I’ve always felt that irresponsible media coverage of school shootings (Columbine, etc.) is related to the increase of school shootings. I can’t find any studies that have found it, however: they seem to want to study links with violent video games or television or song lyrics.

When Chris Kennedy and the Autism Society of Illinois tout concentrating on “lack of support” as looking at these murders in context, I have to laugh. What they’re actually doing is focusing on one aspect of the case (i.e. the victim was disabled), and ignoring other aspects that are more important (e.g. a person was killed; their parent(s)/caregivers confessed). Disgusting.

Thanks for this post.

By: ballastexistenz

ballastexistenz — Fri, 23 Jun 2006 09:21:30 +0000

Not far-fetched at all. Especially not when the reporters themselves are saying things like “Watch the Autism Speaks video before condemning this woman.”

By: Joseph

Joseph — Fri, 23 Jun 2006 09:18:13 +0000

It would not be far fetched to assume there is an increase in murders of disabled children by their parents in relation to well-publicized and sympathetic coverage of planned murder-suicides.