I guess we shouldn’t be shocked by this. A neighbor sent a letter to a family of a boy with autism recommending they euthanize him.

HT HuffPo
I guess we shouldn’t be shocked by this. A neighbor sent a letter to a family of a boy with autism recommending they euthanize him.
HT HuffPo
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August 20, 2013 at 2:23 pm
I honestly don't know who to feel sorrier for. The child needs prayers and has a wonderful Guardian Angel who is helping him along. The letter writer is someone almost indescribable. Coming from HuffPo, I don't know what to make of it. May God have mercy on us. Peace and God bless.
August 20, 2013 at 2:33 pm
My fear is for this woman's children.
There is your next generation!
This is what they are taught!
August 20, 2013 at 2:59 pm
Wow, it's impossible to understand this kind of vitriol. It makes my heart sink to realize there really are people this hateful.
August 20, 2013 at 3:12 pm
This could be my daughter (who is autistic) this monster who calls herself a mother is describing. She is just another member of the pro-death culture we live in. Abby Johnson's recent blog post describes the pro-death supporters in the Texas legislature in this way, "their mind is no longer their own. Once evil breaks in, your thoughts, your words, and your behavior is not controlled by you." Evil has certainly taken over this person and is controlling them and so while this piece hurts me on a very personal level and, yes, makes me very angry, I know I must pray for her and her soul as well as for the boy she talks of and his family.
August 20, 2013 at 3:17 pm
I have twin boys with autism. One of them just received an academic scholarship, and I'll be helping him move into his freshman year dorm this week. Autism and retardation are two different things, although sometimes they are found in tandem. I have often said that I've seen both the best in people and the worst in the last 18 years. I have met people like this letter-writer. They are simply selfish; not the worst. The worst are the folks that presume they understand the condition when they do not and in the name of faux compassion (combined with a moral superiority complex) presume to determine your kid's life for him/her. In any event, my last experience was this past Sunday at mass when a women came up to me following the "ita missa est" and told me how the interaction between one of my sons and me at mass "helped her see Christ." I told her she needed to talk to my son, since it was HIS apostolate she was witnessing, not mine.
August 20, 2013 at 3:37 pm
I saw this letter over the weekend on an Aspergers Support page on facebook. Apparently, the police in that Canadian city are investigating the letter and they have not ruled out bringing charges against the writer. She's a coward desperately in need of prayer.
August 20, 2013 at 3:47 pm
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August 20, 2013 at 3:59 pm
I hope this is fake for publicity. If it isn't this person is indescribably selfish and deserves to be investigated criminally. They were too weak to even put their name to it, and the kid with autism is worth a lot more than she is.
August 20, 2013 at 5:00 pm
I'm surprised HuffyPoo would have this letter posted. I guess I always figured HP was in support of euthanizing and aborting disabilities…or whoever. Either way, my only question is to whether it is real. I only say that because it is soooo very insanely over the top, a person has a hard time thinking there are people this selfish, angry and emotionally unstable as to put this down on put this down on paper and leave it to a mother of a special needs kid. If real….yikes!
August 20, 2013 at 6:52 pm
As a mother of one child with Asperger's and other children who have had a variety of physical and mental challenges over the years, this absolutely breaks my heart. There were times, years ago, before my son's diagnosis that I felt so tired and hopeless and totally wrung out, that a letter like that could have pushed me over the brink into total despair or suicide. Seriously. My son is doing well today – but if I had received a letter like that when he was 7 or 8, I might still be in a locked mental health facility in a totally catatonic state.
August 20, 2013 at 7:01 pm
How bizarre/unhinged to you have to be to actually write and send something like that?
August 20, 2013 at 7:01 pm
I choose to believe it is a hoax, because I refuse to believe that THAT level of evil has entered the world.
August 20, 2013 at 7:51 pm
@Proteios1
That's what was my first thought about HuffPo -then I read the comments. One of the most common remarks was (variations of) "If you want to find out who wrote the letter, just look for the yard with the Tea Party flag." Another was, "Too bad this was in Canada so the woman couldn't just stand her ground and shoot the kid." One commenter suggested Ann Romney wrote the letter. As if liberals were the ones sticking up for the sanctity of human life! As if Stand your Ground had ANYTHING to do with this! Yeah, and conservatives are totally good with euthanasia and killing children because of their physical flaws! None of it made any sense, but I guess I wasn't to surprised. But honestly, do they really not get this??
I replied to waaay too many comments…
Robyn
August 20, 2013 at 11:06 pm
Here is a TV news article about this with a video interview with the mother. So sad. http://www.citynews.ca/2013/08/18/family-in-shock-after-hate-letter-targets-teen-with-autism/
August 21, 2013 at 12:37 am
My 9 yr. old has autism, his younger brother and sister are ADHD with autistic tendencies (yeah, it can get real complicated).
We've gotten some "looks" over the years, thats as bad as it's been for us. Lots of support from folks, sometimes when our kids act up at Mass we'll have families make it a point to tell us to keep coming back!
If I ever got a letter like that and found the author, one of us would need medical attention. Lots of it.
August 21, 2013 at 2:58 am
Amy Giglio… Thanks for the link to the city news video. It gave me "relief." The police are looking for this woman and the family will press charges when she's found. The best part is that the "community" this woman claimed to be speaking for was also up in arms and banded together to support the family and 13 year old "Max." It was heartwarming… God brought about good from a malevolent act.
August 21, 2013 at 6:17 pm
I wonder why, if this woman was so sure that the whole neighborhood thought as she did (and just didn't have the guts to communicate those thoughts), she didn't sign her name. Margaret Sanger would be so proud.
I have no trouble believing this to be true (not a hoax). She isn't the first human being to think this way or to communicate the evil that has obviously taken over her heart and soul. I ache for the grandmother and the parents of that boy, as I do for him. I also pity the children of the heartless b**** who wrote that letter.
August 25, 2013 at 8:14 pm
.
.
On Dateline NBC a few years ago, they showed a case where
the police were investigating similar notes being received
by a teacher at a school (and the notes were designed
to look as of they were sent by another teacher).
It was later found that the 'taunted and tortured teacher'
had actually sent the notes to herself as a cry for attention
and public sympathy due to feeling overwhelmed with her
life (and no other 'teacher' or 'outsider' had sent it to her).
Also, a couple of years ago a man claimed that he began
to receive 'religious hate mail' our of nowhere from “an
unknown neighbor" (even though there was no history
of any of the neighbors having harassed, disliked or
shown bigotry or hatred toward his family before) and
within a few weeks his wife ended up "attacked by an
unknown stranger, possibly the "neighbor", and killed".
It was later found that he felt his wife was a "burden"
and had composed and sent "the mysterious letters"
himself as a set up and cover for the crime he was
planning in order to "set himself free" from someone
that 'he' (not his neighbors) saw as a "burden" in life.
In both cases, entire innocent-communities (even if
it were seen as just 'one' phantom-person within that
community) were placed with suspicion and blame for
something that they did not do and would never have
even thought of doing — simply because someone who
felt they wanted to 'escape' their own "burdens" in life
were setting up both the communities and the family
member from whom they wanted to be set free.
In addition, there have been story after story of
late of the many parents and caregivers of autistic
children who — feeling overwhelmed with taking
care of a person with severe needs and yet also
wanting to gain public attention, pity, sympathy,
support, and a type of victim and/or hero status
— have plotted for weeks, months and even years
to 'get free of their burden' in such as way as to
look both innocent and pitiable (and this is often
done by pointing-the-finger at innocent-strangers).
My point is that — UNTIL the police investigate to see
IF this "mysterious note" is actually LEGITIMATE —
this community should NOT be seen as having
some sort of hate-monger living in it's midst.
This 'mysterious note' seems to have a far "too personal"
touch to it to have been composed by any 'man' and / or
even by 'woman' who would have been a 'stranger' or
a 'near stranger' to this family — and, until it is PROVEN
that it IS IN FACT from "someone in the neighborhood",
it seems unreasonable to assume that the neighbors are
not (possibly) being set-up just so that someone who
may feel overwhelmed with life can literally 'script' a
situation in which to garner both pity and attention.
It's not that I'm not trying to be 'sympathetic' toward
the family to whom the memo was directed … it's just
that … the situation of "setting things up in order to
get public sympathy and attention" has been found
to have occurred so frequently in the past number
of years that — unless someone has a video of
a situation occurring — many times it should be
considered as possibly "one of the usual suspects".
http://www.bullyonline.org/workbully/munchaus.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victim_playing
http://www.salon.com/2008/06/04/exhausted_caregiver/
http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/08/20/letter-telling-ontario-family-to-euthanize-autistic-son-not-a-hate-crime-police/
http://www.post-journal.com/page/content.detail/id/609417/When-Feeling-Overwhelmed–Caregivers-Should-Seek-Help.html?nav=5208
.