Yesterday, the Denver Post published a truly horrible article by Nancy Lofholm titled Autism’s terrible toll: Parents risk hitting a “breaking point.”
In the context of this article “hitting a breaking point” means “murdering your child.” Your autistic child:
Jacob Grabe, 13, could sense a storm coming several days out. He would get agitated and make strange noises. Silverware bothered him. He could eat only from plastic forks and spoons. He breezed through complicated algebra but struggled with basic division.
Nearly three months ago, when his father, Allen, allegedly shot and killed him while he was sleeping, Jacob had been exhibiting these and many other symptoms of the mysterious disorder autism for most of his short life.
He had great difficulty making friends. He had trouble controlling outbursts. He had been shuffled from school to school. He had, in recent years, made some improvements with medications. But there is no cure for autism.
Friends of the family say Jacob’s father feared his son would never be able to live a normal life.
So Jacob became another statistic in a sad, pressure-cooker reality for families with autistic children.
I’ll be honest. I have trouble thinking straight when I read a vile “blame the victims” story like this. You’d think I’d be used to them by now.
(As added insult, btw, Lofholm lists Katie McCarron’s murder as one of several examples of murders that – I guess – we are supposed to attribute to the toll autism takes on families.)
Thankfully, Dick Sobsey is someone who can pull himself together better than I can, but even he had to calm down a bit before posting on this article. As usual, Dick is the best person I know at analyzing and deconstructing this kind of garbage. Unfortunately, he’s had a lot of practice.
So, please go read Dick Sobsey’s posts on this vile article on the ICAD blog:
You know, if people can believe there is such a thing as caring and supportive killing of people with disabilities…can the defense of such a thing as caring and supportive rape be far behind?