I mentioned yesterday that Joe Scarborough of MSNBC will most likely be feeling the wrath of the autism community over his recent comments made during Monday morning’s edition of “Morning Joe, that the Batman shooter is probably on the autism spectrum. Despite having a child of his own on the spectrum, Joe is getting some heat. This is one of those rare moments were lots of factions of the autism community will agree. This is not in the realm of Michael Savage or Dennis Leary, but Joe should probably clarify his remarks / apologize.
Full @ http://autismdad.com/2012/07/24/joe-scarborough-batman-autism-apology/
Akron Police Sgt. Mark Farrar knows the facts of autism in his head and the pain of autism in his heart.
With the incidence of autism rising rapidly — 1 in 88 children (and 1 in 54 boys) are born with some form of it — law-enforcement agencies are being affected because, Farrar says, the autistic are seven times as likely as others to come into contact with first responders such as police, fire and paramedics. They also are more likely to be crime victims.
“We talk about autism in kids as if they mysteriously disappear when they become adults,” Farrar said yesterday at Attorney General Mike DeWine’s “Two Days in May” crime-victims conference in the Hyatt Regency. “Those kids are growing up, becoming adults, living in our communities. We can’t assume first responders know how to deal with them on their own.”
Six days before he died, Van Ingraham was found on the floor of his room. His neck was broken and his spinal cord was crushed and disfigured. The injury was so severe, medical experts said it looked like he could have been put in a headlock or hanged.
But even if Ingraham knew how he’d been injured, his severe autism prevented him from revealing it. He’d never uttered a word in his life – only his injuries could speak for him.
Solving the mystery of Ingraham’s death in the summer of 2007 was left to the detectives at the Fairview Developmental Center, a state-run institution in Costa Mesa where Ingraham lived in a sterile room. A tiny window allowed only a sliver of light into his world.
Ingraham’s family sent him to Fairview when he was just 8 years old. He lived under the care of the state for 42 years. Restless, he would sprint through hallways. He would urinate on himself when upset. At his worst, he would strike at his own face, though never at his three roommates or others around him.
The coarseness of Ingraham’s life at Fairview was matched only by the sloppiness of the investigation into his death.
The police force at Fairview failed to collect blood samples, fingerprints and other physical specimens from his room. On the day of the injury, they took one photograph – a headshot of Ingraham, 50, as he lay on a stretcher, his eyes open and glassy, an abrasion above his left brow.
Later, Fairview detectives noted that Ingraham’s caregiver had changed the institution’s log documenting what the patient was doing at the time of the injury. But detectives never pressed the issue.
The lead detective, a former nurse, had minimal police training and no experience investigating suspicious deaths.
In the case file, she left out the opinion from a biomechanical specialist that Ingraham’s death “was likely a homicide” – one of three medical experts to raise alarms about the injury. Two of those experts concluded that Ingraham likely had been put in a headlock.
Fairview detectives eventually focused on another patient without proof he was even near the scene. The key testimony leading detectives down that road came from a blind patient.
The detectives also surmised that Ingraham could have fallen out of bed, which was about two feet off the ground. Medical experts said that scenario was highly unlikely given the force required to produce Ingraham’s injury.
No arrests have been made in the case, and the Fairview caregiver last seen with Ingraham continues to work at the center.
Ingraham’s death illustrates how an ill-equipped, inexperienced and poorly trained police force has dealt with a rising number of unexplained injuries and abuse cases inside facilities managed by the Department of Developmental Services.
A 15-year-old boy who suffered from an autism disorder was shot and killed by police in his Calumet City home after he threatened officers and cut one of them with a knife, police and the boy's family said.
.jpeg)
.png)
ShareThis
