Autistic teen soccer player duct taped to goal post

Post Reply New Topic

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nationa ... -1.1967189

Yep another case of an autistic person being bullied.

It's about a need for more services, right?

Being from the general area, all I can say is I'm not surprised.

I can list off all the cultural factors that feed it.

I'm not excusing them, in any way or shape or form. Even when the culture is fecking sick, you COPE. And you do not do it by feeding the sickness.

But the fact remains that the bullies are victims of something too. They always are. People don't do that s**t because they're HEALTHY in their minds and spirits.

I read the article.
I saw nothing that indicated they did that because he's autistic.
I saw nothing about prior instances of them singling him out for being autistic.
His autism may have been a factor but to me it's looking more like a practical joke than bullying.
Just from this I can't see where the suspensions were warranted, especially for the coach.

The article is pretty vague, I'll give you that.

They did it to him because they ware a bunch of Godda*mn jocks, and that breed preys on the weak and nerdy in school.

It's clear that it was the kids mother that convinced him he was "a victim" which doesnt help matters. He's 15 in the 1st semester of the school year so that probably puts him in the sophomore class. Seniors love to f**k with sophomores. Where I went to high school it wasn't so much like that but where this kid lives (near Pittsburgh) it IS like that, has been like that, and will be like that 100 years from now no matter what kind of namby-pamby laws are passed. That's my native region so I know something about it. All things considered, If one is going to be duct taped to a goal post October is a good time of the year for it since there is little danger of freezing to death or or roasting. Really, that's about as simple as it needs to be.

"Godda*mn jocks"? Hmmm.....So how long did you end up taped to the goal post?

Last edited by Raptor on 11 Oct 2014, 12:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.

http://www.post-gazette.com/local/north ... 1410090331

Here's an updated story. If it's true that this is a team tradition, then obviously it wasn't because of his autism. That said, autism symptoms might make it more traumatic (i.e. sensory issues, communication difficulties, meltdowns).

I still don't see any evidence of the coach's complicity, but there could be facts I'm not privy to.

Actually, no one ever taped me up to anything in high school. That didn't mean I was free from being bullied, as were all the other schoolyard outcasts I associated with. I admit, there were some okay guys who were jocks - one guy was my oldest friend who'd never hurt me, while the other was very sincere in his religiosity and so never hurt anyone. But the other ones I knew took full advantage of the high school caste system to humiliate and degrade anyone else who didn't share their lofty social status.
As for the kid being a victim - If that had happened to an adult, I could see charges of assault being filed, so if the mother had convinced the kid he was a victim, it was hardly unfounded.
I've long had fears about my daughter's future in junior high and high school, as she is autistic and stands out like a sore thumb with her less than NT behavior. I still hold a grudge against the NT's who bullied and excluded me back in school, and I hardly want her to carry that sort of cancer of the psyche that I do along with her for future years. Luckily, her grade school has a zero tolerance policy regarding bullying, and so her sparkling, if different, personality has made her popular in school. I can only hope that continues on for her.

The suspended players had supporters at the next game? That's disgusting.

Life has it's hard blows and that wasnt even on the radar screen of hard blows. He needs to get over it and move on, and so does his overprotective mother.


Grow up already . The bullies that you really need to worry about know how to game the system to make themselves look like the victim and the system will be forced to sidt with THEM.
I see two choices for you here:
1. Get her the social coaching (and hardening) to deal with adolescence
2. Private school
3. Ideally BOTH
The world is not going to change for either of you to any discernible degree in the foreseeable future.

Well, if the kid has an overprotective mother, then I'm an overprotective father. I fail to see anything wrong with that.
As far as social coaching is concerned - that is actually being taught in schools today. But the fact that the fault of bullying never lies with the bullied kid can never be lost sight of.
If my daughter is bullied later on in school, then private schooling might not be out of the question.
And the real bullies game the system? You mean like people who need to be on welfare or disability? Those people really are the bullies, and not the CEOs of big corporations that slash wages and downsize people and whole communities into poverty? Or it's not tea baggers shaming the very impoverished people on government assistance you called bullies with their ugly rhetoric? If so, then you and I have vastly different notions of what constitutes a bully.
As for growing up and getting over my past - easier said than done. I don't know of a single adult who had been bullied or belittled as a kid who still isn't haunted by it, especially when autism is a factor, and your memories of the negative are especially strong. Are you claiming that you weren't an easy target as a kid because of your Asperger's?

Because one of these days that kid is going to have to leave the nest and go out into the world without his mommy's protection. Then what?

And it's cursory at best and not at the level it needs to be for the socially challenged.


It's a matter of adapting to the world we live in, not waiting for it to change.


The middle school/junior high I went to in the 7th and 6th grade was brutal. The only things that saved me were that I looked normal and would fight if push came to shove.


What the f**k are you talking about?? This isn't about politics or "tea baggers" it's about sociopathic bullies that know how to twist the system to their needs and wants (e.g. a bully goading someone into hitting them then playing the victim card, complete with a mostly feigned injury, to get the real victim in trouble). Are you sure you went to public school?


Read what I said above. And believe it or not you're not one that has suffered socal setbacks attributable to Asperger's.

I'm big enough to admit when I made a mistake. When you talked about bullies gaming the system, I admittedly hearkened back to your political posts, and just assumed you were talking about the poor and disabled as the real bullies. I apologize.
But regardless, while it doesn't hurt a kid to become more streetwise and savvy, the fact remains the bullied kid is still never to blame.
And good for you that you could pass as NT - that's a trick I still haven't managed to pull off. And I'm hardly the only one on WP who is still haunted by their childhoods.

That's no fun. You could have at least called me a troll like some of your liberal brethren would have.

Did someone say anything different?


I don't pass as an NT I just don't make myself a soft target.

As I said, I am big enough to concede when I'm mistaken. Therefore, no accusations from me about you being a troll.

Kids do need to learn to deal with as*holes, but that will still be accomplished without governing schools with the law of the jungle.