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

scorptatious

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So I was just checking my e-mail when I noticed this interesting bit of news:

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/dailybrew/ontario-police-aware-hateful-letter-telling-family-euthanize-171036930.html

To put it simply, a lady in Ontario gets pissed off at this autistic kid for screaming loudly outside and writes a very hateful letter to his family which includes how much of a nuisance he was, how he'll never be employed, get married, and of course that he should be euthanized.

As someone who was diagnosed alongside his brother with autism, this sorta hits a little close to home. It kinda shows how ugly a person's thoughts can be when they are turned into words.

Thoughts?
 

Thaluikhain

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One wonders how many people in the community quietly support whoever sent that, even if they'd not gone the step of writing their own hate speech.
 

william12123

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Is it acceptable behovior from an adult? Hell no. Then again, there are some people who find it funny to joke about throwing a crying baby out of a plane, so clearly some adults have a screwy, selfish mind.

However, if the child is outside and constantly wailing, there is something wrong. The article lacks a hell of a lot of context, but it gives me the impression that the child is not getting the care and attention they need, if they really are constantly wailing.
Then again, this article is too vague. I understand the difficulty of being in an apartement close to people making a lot of noise (music, babies, sex, etc.) but this person seems to have gone over the edge.
 

Thaluikhain

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william12123 said:
Is it acceptable behovior from an adult? Hell no. Then again, there are some people who find it funny to joke about throwing a crying baby out of a plane, so clearly some adults have a screwy, selfish mind.
Er...bit of a difference between those two things.

william12123 said:
However, if the child is outside and constantly wailing, there is something wrong. The article lacks a hell of a lot of context, but it gives me the impression that the child is not getting the care and attention they need, if they really are constantly wailing.
Then again, this article is too vague. I understand the difficulty of being in an apartement close to people making a lot of noise (music, babies, sex, etc.) but this person seems to have gone over the edge.
Seems to have gone over the edge?!

If the kid is being too noisy, sending a message about how their kid is being too noisy makes sense.

Telling them they should murder him so they can harvest his organs and not bother "normal" people again is most definitely wrong.
 

RickyChinese

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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.

People say a lot of shit when they're frustrated. Besides, what kind of parent lets their low functioning autistic child run the street, acting up? At least she took it out on them instead of the kid.
 

scorptatious

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RickyChinese said:
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.

People say a lot of shit when they're frustrated. Besides, what kind of parent lets their low functioning autistic child run the street, acting up? At least she took it out on them instead of the kid.
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.
 

Dangit2019

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This sounds like something a wannabe badass from reddit would do.

Welp, the next PTO meeting's going to be a tad awkward.
 

Lilani

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william12123 said:
However, if the child is outside and constantly wailing, there is something wrong.
I don't know how much you know about autistic kids, but that isn't always the case. This obviously wasn't the first time it's happened, and she called him a "wild animal child" which I'm guessing means pretty severe autism. And there are times when they are simply inconsolable, but he needs fresh air and human interaction just as anyone else does so they can't just keep him in all the time.

The woman went out of her way to not only express her grievances, but also to personally insult the child and the parents.

It scares the hell out of my normal children!!!!!!!!!

He is a nuisance 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!!

T]hey 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 don't care if he was being louder than a fucking jet engine. There is never an excuse for that.
 

Boris Goodenough

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william12123 said:
Then again, there are some people who find it funny to joke about throwing a crying baby out of a plane, so clearly some adults have a screwy, selfish mind.
It's ignorent and selfish to take a baby on board a plane, the eustachian tube is soft and often compress in babies when they are exposed to those pressure differences and cause immense pain to the baby.
 

BathorysGraveland2

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HoneyVision said:
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.
 

Dirty Hipsters

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I'm gonna be honest here, as much as I think that the entire letter is disgusting and cowardly, I can kind of understand the sentiment.

I know that if I lived in close proximity to someone who had a mentally ill child who spent all day yelling and moaning incomprehensibly I wouldn't be very happy about it either, just like I wouldn't be happy about living next to people who never stop doing construction on their house, or who have a yippy dog that never shuts up, or who play loud music at night. That shit is incredibly frustrating, and people make other people listen to that are selfish pricks.

At the same time, nothing in that letter was expressed in any way that is even remotely ok, and the person who wrote it KNEW THAT because they were too cowardly to put their name on it. So as much as I can sympathize with the frustration of having an annoying neighbor, I really do hope that there are consequences for the women who wrote that letter.
 

Keoul

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While it is a very angry letter, I can't help but wonder if the child really was being a nuisance...
Wanting him to be euthanized is definitely far too harsh but maybe the mother could bring him in a bit more or give him a little talk so he doesn't disturb the neighborhood as much? I'm sure whoever sent it just wants some peace and quiet though they obviously suck at expressing themselves. This probably could have gone a lot better if they just knocked on their door and had a little chat with the mother about how their child is a bit too loud and if she could restrain him a bit.
 

Lilani

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Keoul said:
Wanting him to be euthanized is definitely far too harsh but maybe the mother could bring him in a bit more or give him a little talk so he doesn't disturb the neighborhood as much? I'm sure whoever sent it just wants some peace and quiet though they obviously suck at expressing themselves. This probably could have gone a lot better if they just knocked on their door and had a little chat with the mother about how their child is a bit too loud and if she could restrain him a bit.
People with special needs children are acutely aware of how their child's presence affects the rest of the world around them, and more than even that they know what the children do well with and what they don't do well with. If the child's discontentment was increased from being outside, you can sure as hell bet they wouldn't take them outside so often. Believe it or not, they don't like to hear their children scream either.

Also, you don't just sit and "have a little talk" with autistic children prone to screaming. There's nothing to talk about. They have no control over it. And restraining them only makes it worse. If there is anything to do about it the parents would know, but often times there isn't anything that can be done.
 

Tien Shen

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I understand the sentiment of the author of the letter but she was incredibly rude and said horrible things. There are better more polite ways she could have gone about it, like not being rude. She could have easily written the letter to simply say she was concerned neighbor with her own kids and that the autistic child's crying was disturbing her family, all without resorting to such nastiness.
 

Mister K

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Hmm... Sending hate mail is hardly the right way to act in such situation. Your very first action should be talking to the parents of this child and explaining your position. If they manage to successfully calm him down, then problem solved.

If not, however, then she should have filed an official complaint, backed by petition of other people, living in this zone (sorry, I don't know how things work in USA, but you get the idea). Then court, because needs of many are far more important then needs of a few, rules that this child is to be sent to special institution for special people. Neighbours are sattisfied, parents can visit their kid whenever they want, everybody wins.
 

manic_depressive13

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I was on the side of the autistic kid and his family until I read this:

Letter said:
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!!!
I'm sorry but killing whales is just inhumane.
 

Caiphus

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Well that's just not nice at all. Shame on her. I used to have a best friend who was autistic. Since he probably hasn't read this, I shall take offense vicariously in his stead.
 

Keoul

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Lilani said:
People with special needs children are acutely aware of how their child's presence affects the rest of the world around them, and more than even that they know what the children do well with and what they don't do well with. If the child's discontentment was increased from being outside, you can sure as hell bet they wouldn't take them outside so often. Believe it or not, they don't like to hear their children scream either.

Also, you don't just sit and "have a little talk" with autistic children prone to screaming. There's nothing to talk about. They have no control over it. And restraining them only makes it worse. If there is anything to do about it the parents would know, but often times there isn't anything that can be done.
Maybe that's why the kid is always outside, the parent is aware of the screaming and it annoys them, so they find it more peaceful if the kid is outside while they're inside. It's just a guess but the article doesn't exactly give us a reason why they're outside so much anyway. The point is they're outside a lot and making a lot of noise while they're out there.

Also I didn't mean restrain as in bind him up with rope and toss him in a corner. Just discipline him a bit, maybe take away his candy if they're too loud or stand in a corner for a bit. You can't just let the kid run rampant and declare "welp disciplining just makes things worse may as well do nothing".