Denver Post article blames autism for son's murder

Post Reply New Topic

You know, if this prick gets out of a standard life without parole or execution for "sympathizing" that autistics are a "burden" to their lives and "tear families apart"

I will personally find out what court he uses, find a few hundred autistics to go with me and get that sentence changed. this prick deserves full life without parole and i still have yet to decide if his fate should be in the chair.

_________________
check out my website at {redacted by admin - domain taken over and points to a porn site}

When in doubt, ask an autistic. Chances are, they're obsessed with what you need to know.

Autism Speaks will NEVER speak for me

CLASSIC AUTISM

This article is very poorly written by an editor who obviously supports autism speaks and also obviously has a serious psychological problem

Analysis below

"On Sept. 11, Allen Grabe allegedly shot and killed his autistic son. Autism is a maddening disorder that can rip families apart and cause parents to snap. (Mesa County Sheriff)"

Mr. Mesa County Sherrif, you had damn well watch out because I might come knocking at your door with an army of autistics, you soooo do not deserve to be in law enforcement, ever heard of the protect and serve all? that means your supposed to serve and protect the autistics too. This statement is appalling, shows that this guy does NOT deserve to hold the badge.

"Autism is a maddening disorder of scrambled brain development that can lead some parents to snap, experts say. Autistic children suffer abuse and are killed at higher rates than normal children. Studies have shown that about 20 percent of autistic children are abused, compared with about 1 percent of other children. Those who deal with the disorder place the abuse even higher."

THEN MAYBE THEY SHOULD START EVALUATING PARENTS BEFORE THEY ADOPT OR HAVE A BABY YOU STUPID b***h! (the person writing this paragraph)

Hospitals are SUPPOSED to evaluate you continuously for the time you take your baby / child to that hospital, my state requires hospitals to do it and a lot of autistic babies and children have had to be reassigned to new parents because of abuse from the old parents or other red flag signs. BUT ITS SAFER TO DO THIS, I DON'T CARE IF THERE IS UNDUE PSYCHOLOGICAL STRESS, AT LEAST WE ARE NOT HAVING DEATHS

In just these three sentences I have been appalled to the point i could easily do something very very illegal against that denver post. but first id like to waltz into their office with an army of 500 or so autistics, write up to this Nancy Lofholm b***h and give her a big time what for and a good beating. Im not saying kill her or anything but people like this deserve to be beat into a bruised mess.

_________________
check out my website at {redacted by admin - domain taken over and points to a porn site}

When in doubt, ask an autistic. Chances are, they're obsessed with what you need to know.

Autism Speaks will NEVER speak for me

CLASSIC AUTISM

Strapples is right the author is quite biased he should have never been allowed to write the article and the editors should have thrown it out. Further more I think it is disgusting that anyone can feel sympathy for this guy he killed his son in cold blood.

I wondered why everyone was getting so worked up about this article, so I read it, carefully, plus the comments that have been made on it.

The article itself was surprisingly well written, with several very understanding phrases used by the author. E.g. she states: "But there is no cure for autism." , "... there aren't enough teachers trained to deal with it." She makes many more observations that I can find no fault with.

Admittedly, a couple of sentences, taken out of context, don't sound so good. However, I saw no "sympathy" being shown for the father who allegedly killed his own son (that "allegedly" is only a technicality, I gather, as he seems to have been perfectly open to the police at the time the arrived).

I saw some attempts being made to understand how it is explained, in terms of the pressures placed on parents, when they receive no support. In fact, the whole article and its comments (with a couple of minors exceptions) seemed to be an exposé of the woefully inadequate support for autistics.

"But there is no cure for Autism" There needs to be one?

As a Denver native, I am outraged that a news outlet in my city published that disgusting piece of filth. There's not much at all that pisses me off more than the media so irresponsibly perpetuating the myth of autistic kids being nothing but non-functioning or mentally defective.

For the record, this kid was not low-functioning nor incapable of living a normal life, as his dad claims. He was in fact a very smart boy, according to his classmates. He also ran track at his school, winning a few ribbons in the process. This despicable man is nothing but a coward and a cold-blooded killer, using his son's disability as an excuse to commit such a vile act. If that isn't bad enough, some of the comments for this article further stigmatizes the members of the autistic community, including ones that blame this act on the mainstreaming of disabled students. As someone who was wrongfully kept in "special needs" classes, I personally take offense to those remarks.

Anyway, I think that Nancy Lofholm and the Denver Post owes the autistic community an apology for publishing such prejudiced material. She should either be fired or forced to resign.

For those of you who don't see how articles like this are dehumanizing and veer towards pardoning murder, I suggest you read this article. It's about the murder of Katie McCarron, an autistic child who was killed by her mother a few years ago. Katie's paternal grandfather, Mike, is very clear in stating that his granddaughter's murder was not about autism or lack of supports. He was, quite rightfully, upset with media coverage which attempted to portray the murder as such. If an NT child were murdered, newspapers would not write about "lack of supports" and how difficult it is to raise an NT child--even though it is often very, very difficult to raise an NT child.

When this article does talk about Jacob itself, it's only to portray his autistic quirks. (Sending the message of, "what a strange and difficult child. How hard to be his parent.") What does it matter that he couldn't eat with metal silverware? When I was his age, I had a tactile sensitivity, amongst others, involving my refusal to eat certain brands, but not others, of whole wheat bread. I guess I should be grateful that my parents were able to cope with this terrible tendency rather than put a gun to my head.

I wish articles about Jacob would talk about who he was as a person, rather than reducing him to a list of "difficult" autistic traits. He deserves that much.