Autistic schoolboy doesn't have to play in cage.

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That is so. . . disgusting, just appalling.

Grotesque is not too strong a term to describe that outdoor prison cell; if anything, it isn't strong enough.

And the local school is going to dismantle it? *Brilliant!* *golf clap*

Assuming my son was a run off danger (which he is not), I don't think he'd mind the fencing so much as the fact that the area just isn't "fun." It isn't pacing length, and there is nothing cool to bounce off from. Not to mention, either of my kids could jump that fence in seconds. I hope it doesn't upset you all if I say this, but it bothers me less that someone wanted to create a contained space, than that they seem to have given zero thought into how it should be shaped and what should be in it. If they had, then there could be an argument they were well intentioned but misguided. Instead, it seems, we've just got misguided.

That's disgusting.

There are similar cages, only higher and less climbable at a psychiatric hospital not far from here. It's not only autistics who get treated like animals or dangerous criminals.

I think it should be made clear that this construction is NOT what the school believes they ordered. From what I could tell in the article, there was a complete breakdown in communication between the school and the supplier. The people who actually put that up probably had no idea it was supposed to be a special play area for an autistic child.

I realize horrible things happen all the time, but outrage should be saved for the ones we are sure were intentional. It isn't fair to read doom and gloom into every mistake an NT makes, just like it isn't fair for an NT to read doom and gloom into every missed voice tone by an autistic. Sometimes posters here sound as if they believe every act an NT does is 100% intentional, eyes wide open. That just isn't true.

DW_a_mom:

My outrage here is based on the utter indifference shown here, and the failure to take timely action to rectify the situation. No one care enough to do anything about the boy's recreation situation until the family raised the money themselves. No one cared enough to make sure the job was done well. No one from the school walked out during construction and said, "That doesn't look right." And no one has cared enough yet to actually build the play area that was promised.

It looks like he will leave the school without ever having had his needs taken seriously. The cage was built and taken down months ago, and nothing has replaced it. They are now "in discussions with the family."

Most abuse of autistic people-- especially in institutions-- is due to plain not caring. No, people did not design a dog run for this boy to play in. But that's what they built. And rather than rectifying their mistake-- they just took it down, and left him with nothing.

That's disgusting.

at least we have the element of suprise if **** hits the fan

Oh, I worked in schools as a teacher for twenty years and did enough minor administrative work to be pretty confident that I know exactly how it is in the United States, in both private and public schools. And, unless things are incredibly different in Scotland, there are no excuses for things having been bungled this badly. Nor is it possible for this to be the result of just one error or one person failing to do things right-- that's really not the way things were in schools, where everything needs to be approved by at least three people: someone working for the site, someone working in construction, and someone working for the district.

I find the idea of having a cage to maintain the safety & security of the autistic schoolboy to be absolutely barbaric..
I'll admit that many children can and sometimes do wander about but, idea of placing someone in a cage makes me think of something hideous like out the story--Island of Dr Moreau

OMG... I just read this for the first time and almost wanted to choke somebody (ie. the "geniuses" who thought of the cage in the first place). Were they hoping to cage others as well in this device?