Angry mom sends letter to family of autistic child telling them to have him euthanized.

[chocolate pickles]

On the one hand, i have to say that this letter is very inconsiderate to the feelings of the mother: telling someone that their kid should be euthanized and will never do any good in this kind of way is hurtful and upsetting.

On the other hand, there was a valid point: Despite being sympathetic for people with special needs and being diagnosed on the autism spectrum myself (albeit very minor though: this kid's level seems quite major), I can understand how frustrating it is to constantly have to deal with this. Hell, if I'm at a restaurant or something and and wailing child is there, within 5 minutes it drives me crazy.

I dont know. I guess i would be on the side of the letter if the writer had actually wrote it with some consideration.

 

[Queen Michael]

That kind of letter is not okay. Sure, I understand that she's been dealing with the noise for a while now, and once you snap you've got a lot of anger that's been bottled up, but there are some things you just don't say to someone.

Sorry if what I'm about to say now is a tad controversial, but to be honest I actually sympathize with the author of the letter to a large degree. The fact that the kid can't help having autism doesn't do anything to make the noise less annoying to hear, and if having the kid there is so annoying to the neighbors then that needs to be taken into account. But once a woman writes something like this, I lose all sympathy for her.

 

[NoeL]

She says she's looking to press charges, but what law was broken? It's not like it was a death threat or anything (though it would be totally understandable if the parents now feared for their child's safety).

 

[Teoes]

Low functioning autists really are not much better than animals and if the kid was as much of a problem as he was, his parents should have moved him far away from other people like the writer of the letter suggested. I had one on my street growing up and while he wasn't as noisy, thankfully, he still caused all sorts of trouble for everyone. If I owned a stereo that couldn't be turned off and kept blaring loud music no matter what, I wouldn't put it outside in a "close proximity neighborhood". And honestly, the kids organs could make some people very happy and give them a new lease on life. It certainly sounds like the autist isn't enjoying his own.

I don't know if your post is reportable and I certainly hope it has been done with some amazing dead-pan facetiousness, but wow. Pretty objectionable viewpoint if not - you might get a lot of angry responses for it. Hope you can defend it with something more than "Opinions! Tra-la-la-lala". Did you seriously just equate a human life to a piece of electronics equipment?

But hey, autistic folks are just animals and we kill our problem animals with clubs and rusty nails, so it's the parents' fault for not exiling themselves from civilisation. If we felt particularly forgiving and altruistic we could consider rounding all such folks up and keeping them in one location far from our cities, yeah? Added benefit of minimising the amount of perfectly good countryside wasted from being used by decent able-bodied and mentally-stable citizens.

 

[Queen Michael]

She says she's looking to press charges, but what law was broken? It's not like it was a death threat or anything (though it would be totally understandable if the parents now feared for their child's safety).

I'm pretty sure there's some harassment law that she's breaking.
Edit: "She" being the letter's author.

 

[NoeL]

She says she's looking to press charges, but what law was broken? It's not like it was a death threat or anything (though it would be totally understandable if the parents now feared for their child's safety).

I'm pretty sure there's some harassment law that she's breaking.
Edit: "She" being the letter's author.

Does being a jerk on a once-off occasion really constitute harassment though?

 

[Gilhelmi]

I am very Pro-Life. I believe that all life is sacred. From the cow that gave its life so I can live, too the plants that provide nourishment as well. I am Christian with some Buddhist philosophy mixed in as well.

I believe that the life of even a disabled person can be a blessing to everyone. I have meet autistic children who were adored by their parents and the child brought joy to all who interacted with them.

 

[ForumSafari]

I kind of sympathise. I doubt they literally believe that the disabled should be euthanized; they're frustrated because they have to deal with that shit in their homes and have probably been dealing with it for some time.

That's what I was thinking, this probably came at the end of a great deal of stress and possibly sleep deprivation, people are hugely disinhibited under these circumstances. In all honesty I think most people that have to unwillingly deal with severely disabled people that are extremely loud have probably thought like this, along with almost everyone whose neighbour likes dubstep. The tone of the letter was purely an extended rant solely for the purpose of letting the target know just how angry they were, the content could have been anything. This isn't an anti disability stance, this is entirely consistent with how people behave when anything loud happens constantly.

I get what you're saying. Although I do think she could have handled this situation a lot better. A letter simply asking them to keep the kid under control would have sufficed.

To be honest if Canada is anything like the UK you'd have to be enraged to even think about sending a letter no matter the content. It's not a huge leap from being just angry enough to send your letter to one more incident happening and you just completely losing your shit over it. They probably regretted sending it the next time they had an extended period of quiet.

...and really how loud can one little kid be?

At thirteen? Very. Particularly if they're yelling at their full volume. Most thirteen year olds won't do that because they're inhibited but this kid could have been extremely loud.

 

[A.A.K]

Euthanasia is just inherently wrong. The very idea of it is just twisted.

Argument for a different day.
I disagree. I'm pro euthanasia.


OT: Yea, it's fucked up. Welcome to the world. An angry, ignorant, selfish person presented their opinion, and a person whose opinion that affects didn't like it.
There's not much you can do about that now.

 

[HoneyVision]

Euthanasia is just inherently wrong. The very idea of it is just twisted.

I disagree. I think there are times where euthanasia is very justified. This is not one of those times.

OT: While I understand the frustration some annoying kid screaming all the time brings, the way the anonymous mother went about approaching the situation is just shitty. She should have had an actual discussion with the mother of the ill kid and try to actually work something out. A hate-filled letter won't accomplish anything.

Fundamentally, I'll never agree with you. But yes, this woman is nothing short of a dipshit.

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

I read the police got involved. This surely is horrible but...what's the crime here? Why even call the police when in the situation you're in. I think they used the letter as an excuse for attention.


"My neighbor is being mean to me" is not really grounds to waste public funds on investigations. Despite how mean it was.

 

[Diablo1099_v1legacy]

I was in a good mood today, I was on vacation and was about to go to a waterpark.

Then I read this.

Who the FUCK does this woman think she is? Gah! Pray that we never meet, Woman who sent this.

 

[ForumSafari]

Then I read this.

...

What the hell is wrong with the US?

Ontario is in the US? does Canada know?

 

[Diablo1099_v1legacy]

Then I read this.

...

What the hell is wrong with the US?

Ontario is in the US? does Canada know?

Yeah, I just realized my mistake right after re-reading the link.
Sorry, just...The Nerve of some people, it really burns me up sometimes.

 

[Dirge Eterna]

I read the police got involved. This surely is horrible but...what's the crime here? Why even call the police when in the situation you're in. I think they used the letter as an excuse for attention.


"My neighbor is being mean to me" is not really grounds to waste public funds on investigations. Despite how mean it was.

Thats what I was wondering too. Yes the person that wrote this is an asshole and needs some training in being a fucking human. But is this really a crime. I looked up Canadian mental health protection and there isn't anything beyond work, home and basic accommodations. Maybe one of Canadian peeps can shed more light on it? Telling someone they should be euthanized isn't a direct threat against them as they aren't saying I am going to euthanize you or use your body for parts.

 

[Ratties]

The parents should have had enough common sense to realize that the child is annoying people around them. Is the letter childish, yeah it is. I blame the parents. Figure it the fuck out.

 

[omega 616]

When people get angry they get stupid, you see it all the time on forums. People start off quite civil and then as the disagreement escalates into an argument people start trying to hurt each other and then when they read it back with a calm mind they are often embarrassed.

I bet if that woman read that letter now, she would be ashamed of herself.

She just wanted to vent but took it to far, now she looks like a horrible person but she could have just been in a rough patch in her life and this was the straw that broke the camels back and she exploded.

 

[Gennadios]

I generally support euthanasia under the conditions the letter listed.

Not much background info on the child in question, but I'm not about to get all indignant on the possibility that the child is a misunderstood savant with a lucrative career in data entry ahead of him.

 

[Lieju]

I read the police got involved. This surely is horrible but...what's the crime here? Why even call the police when in the situation you're in. I think they used the letter as an excuse for attention.


"My neighbor is being mean to me" is not really grounds to waste public funds on investigations. Despite how mean it was.

Thats what I was wondering too. Yes the person that wrote this is an asshole and needs some training in being a fucking human. But is this really a crime. I looked up Canadian mental health protection and there isn't anything beyond work, home and basic accommodations. Maybe one of Canadian peeps can shed more light on it? Telling someone they should be euthanized isn't a direct threat against them as they aren't saying I am going to euthanize you or use your body for parts.

Well, telling people 'no-one wants you here', and telling them to 'Go live in a tralier in the woods or something with your wild animal kid!!!' can be threatening. Also she is telling them she doesn't think he deserves to live and if he died it would be better for everyone.

Kinda would depend on whether there has been any other incidents, though.

And whether he is kept outside or not, her concern clearly isn't for him.

 

[Dirge Eterna]

I read the police got involved. This surely is horrible but...what's the crime here? Why even call the police when in the situation you're in. I think they used the letter as an excuse for attention.


"My neighbor is being mean to me" is not really grounds to waste public funds on investigations. Despite how mean it was.

Thats what I was wondering too. Yes the person that wrote this is an asshole and needs some training in being a fucking human. But is this really a crime. I looked up Canadian mental health protection and there isn't anything beyond work, home and basic accommodations. Maybe one of Canadian peeps can shed more light on it? Telling someone they should be euthanized isn't a direct threat against them as they aren't saying I am going to euthanize you or use your body for parts.

Well, telling people 'no-one wants you here', and telling them to 'Go live in a tralier in the woods or something with your wild animal kid!!!' can be threatening. Also she is telling them she doesn't think he deserves to live and if he died it would be better for everyone.

Kinda would depend on whether there has been any other incidents, though.

I can see the no one wants you here as minor harassment. But telling them they don't deserve to live isn't a direct threat. It would depend on the history and if there have been and incidents in the past.