Maddie and Mommy.
The mother of a child with autism in Canada received this letter from a neighbor. Click on this link before you read any farther.
“To the lady living at this address:
I also live in this neighborhood and have a problem!!! You have a kid that is mentally handicapped and you consciously decided that it would be a good idea to live in a close proximity neighborhood like this???? You selfishly put your kid outside everyday and let him be a nothing but a nuisance and a problem to everyone else with that noise polluting whaling he constantly makes!!! That noise he makes when he is outside is DREADFUL!!!!!!!!!! It scares the hell out of my normal children!!!!!!! When you feel your idiot kid needs fresh air, take him to our park you dope!!! We have a nature trail!! Let him run around those places and make noise!!!!!! Crying babies, music and even barking dogs are normal sounds in a residential neighborhood!!!!! He is NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
He is a hindrance to everyone and will always be that way!!!!! Who the hell is going to care for him?????? No employer will hire him, no normal girl is going to marry/love him and you are not going to live forever!! Personally, they should take whatever non retarded body parts he possesses and donate it to science. What the hell else good is he to anyone!!! You had a retarded kid, deal with it…properly!!!!! What right do you have to do this to hard working people!!!!!!! I HATE people like you who believe, just because you have a special needs kid, you are entitled to special treatment!!! GOD!!!!!!
Do everyone in our community huge a favor and MOVE!!!! VAMOSE!!! SCRAM!!!! Move away and get out of this type of neighborhood setting!!! Go live in a trailer in the woods or something with your wild animal kid!!! Nobody wants you living here and they don’t have the guts to tell you!!!!!
Do the right thing and move or euthanize him!!! Either way, we are ALL better off!!!
Sincerely,
One pissed off mother!!!!!”
By no means do I think that this is the general attitude towards people with developmental disabilities, but it is far from unique. It made me think of a video that hit the internet last year of a teen boy with Down Syndrome who kicks a young child, which created a quick response from the child’s father of throwing a knockout punch to the teen boy. http://www.keepbusy.net/play.php?id=down-syndrome-guy-kicks-kid-gets-knocked-out
I noticed some people on Facebook commenting on this video then and almost everyone there was laughing about it saying things like I would’ve knocked the Tard out, too or Hilarious!
I was a buzzkill, as I brought a different viewpoint. I said that I can see why the Dad was upset and I understand instincts, but he totally overreacted. The kick seemed pretty minor.
Most of these Facebook commenters continued to disagree with my viewpoint and some responded with how the Mom should have a leash on her son.
I battled it out by myself for awhile and then just let it go. I thought about the Mother who was just trying to order some food for the 2 of them. I thought of how she probably has spent her whole life trying to protect her child from himself and others. I thought of how she had no idea what had happened to cause her son to be laying out on the floor, but how her heart was broken and she was scared of what this angry, violent man was going to continue to do to her son.
I also thought about the times when my girl Maddie has been upset over someone in public making a loud noise and setting her off. I thought about how loud sounds or sudden action can be like a drill going off in her brain. How my girl has physically lashed out her own family members before when things have happened like this and how I know this same type of incident could happen to her as she gets older.
I don’t bring these stories up for you to feel sorry for me. I’m a strong motherfucker who can take care of myself. I bring it up because I hope a few of you that are reading this thinking that the letter had some merit and the reactionary father was justified, might look a little more deeply when considering people with special needs. It’s why I created this site. Let Me Help You Understand.