FEAT DAILY NEWSLETTER      Sacramento, California      http://www.feat.org

February 10, 2002         News Morgue Search  www.feat.org/search/news.asp

AWARENESS

·        Autistic Teen Charged With Attempted Murder

·        Commentaries

·        Most States Help Autistic Adults — Why Doesn’t Conn.?

·        Reader’s Posts

 

 

Autistic Teen Charged With Attempted Murder

Attorney Trying To Get Case Sent To Juvenile Court

[From KCRA News, Sacramento.]

http://www.thekcrachannel.com/sac/news/localnews/stories/news-localnews-1222

14320020205-160255.html

A 16-year-old boy has been charged as an adult for stabbing woman at a Sacramento area Starbucks, but the boy’s parents say that’s not fair because he’s autistic.

David Maggi admits that he attacked a woman with a knife, but his attorney believes extenuating circumstances should warrant treatment, not punishment.

“He’s developmentally disabled. He’s autistic. He’s borderline mentally retarded.” Maggi’s attorney, Bob Blasier, said.

According to police, last June, Maggi somehow got a hold of a knife and slipped out of a Natomas group home. He walked three miles to a Starbucks, where he stabbed a customer in the back.

Now he faces charges of attempted murder. If convicted, he’ll go to state prison.

“To hold David criminally responsible for what he did would not be fair because he doesn’t understand what he did,” Maggi’s mother, Joan Maggi said.

Maggi’s parents said that he needs treatment not a prison term. But the husband of the woman he stabbed, Jeff Volp, isn’t so sure.

“I know there’s been some talk about his autism and retardation. It’s a tough call. The fact remains that he committed a violent crime and intentionally tried to kill my wife,” Volp said.

“It’s my opinion that this case really belongs in juvenile court given all the surrounding circumstances and Mr. Maggi’s disabilities,” Blasier said.

In court Tuesday, Blasier’s motion to switch to juvenile court was denied. He thinks that he still has a chance, because it’s possible that prosecutors didn’t know Maggi was autistic when they charged him.

“When they have to make a filing decision, they have to do it quickly.  All they see is the police report. They don’t get background on David’s disabilities until later,” Blasier said.

Maggi’s parents don’t deny that he should face consequences for his crime. But they said that he needs help, and that he won’t get it behind bars.

Blasier said that he is planning to give the district attorney a proposal within the next couple of weeks, proposing once again that Maggi be tried as a juvenile.

Maggi’s family said that his group home was supposed to provide a very high level of supervision, but it’s not clear how he managed to walk out.

The family said that it might consider legal action against the home once

Maggi’s case is finished.  Copyright 2002 by TheKCRAChannel

                                * *

 

COMMENTARY #1

By Dennis Debbaudt

Autism, Advocates and Law Enforcement Professionals

Here’s a perfect example above of the dilemma for criminal justice professionals and the next frontier for advocacy efforts. How do we find fair justice for everyone concerned here and still address the unique needs of the person with autism? How do we advocate effectively for the offender with autism who is incarcerated? How do autism advocates begin to work with the victims?

Educating law enforcement, first on the scene professionals and hospital emergency room professionals about recognition and response is the first frontier for autism advocates. Our next frontier is the rest of the criminal justice system-investigators, defense attorneys, prosecutors, judiciary and legislators, correctional professionals, social workers, forensic professionals.

Tough issues; no easy answers. Proactive involvement should be on the agendas of all responsible autism advocates. We’re going to see increasingly more of these kinds of cases in the future. If we say we are advocates for people with autism, we can’t pick and choose the issues. We have to identify and respond to all of them. Criminal justice issues are another, even if unpleasant, of the issues who have to deal with. The information on how to do this (effectively advocate/form partnerships within the criminal justice system) is out here. We can no longer duck and hide.  Questions to ask autism advocacy leaders: what do you know about these issues and what are you doing about it? Our advocacy groups are us, for us.  Or should be. We can make the changes. If autism advocacy leadership is unwilling to respond, then we have to find new leadership.

·        Dennis Debbaudt  Autism, Advocates and Law Enforcement Professionals www.jkp.com  www.policeandautism.cjb.net  Port St. Lucie, Florida

                                 * *

 

COMMENTARY #2

By Lenny Schafer

As the leading edge of the autism baby boom enters adolescence we can expect to see an increase in such incidents as described here.  The more the public hears “his autism made him do it” as an explanation for violent and anti-social behavior, the more right-or-wrong, those with autism will be seen as a danger to society.

The public’s image of autism is found more-or-less in the benign fictional Rainman character from the now 17-year-old movie of the same name.  This stereotype will shift more to the darker side of this character with each media recounting of a violent assault: the autistic boy who, you may remember, was institutionalized for the perceived unpredictable danger he posed to his younger brother.

This shift in public attitude will make the tasks for those with autism struggling to integrate themselves into their communities that much more difficult; it’s just another reason, for example, not to hire that talented, but strange behaving Aspie.  He might someday go postal on you and then play the I-have-autism get-out-of-jail free card.  It will take an ongoing national public awareness campaign to counteract this. Who will do it? The somnolent national ASA?  Care advocate Dennis Debbaudt? Actress Rene Russo? Hello? –LS]

 

 

>> DO SOMETHING ABOUT AUTISM NOW <<

Subscribe, Read, then Forward the FEAT Daily Newsletter.

To Subscribe go to    www.feat.org/FEATnews     No Cost!

 

 

* * *

 

Most States Help Autistic Adults — Why Doesn’t Conn.?

[By Dan S. Cohen in the Danbury News-Times.] http://www.newstimes.com/cgi-bin/dbs.cgi?db=news&view_records=1&id=22967 <- - address ends here.

Carol Galloway is all too familiar with what it’s like to be ostracized.

Carol, 30, suffers from Asperger Syndrome (AS), a type of autism that’ s caused her heartache — from the relentless and cruel teasing she endured from insensitive classmates, to her present-day situation, where she’s virtually ignored by the state of Connecticut. Adults with developmental disabilities such as AS are ineligible for critically needed state services.

So Carol copes as best she can.

She starts her day at 6:15 a.m., turning off the alarm in a bedroom of

her parents’ Brookfield home. She dresses, eats breakfast, and is out the door an hour later for the mile walk to a Hart bus stop. After numerous stops, she arrives in Danbury and waits to transfer to another bus. Carol finally gets to work by 9 a.m. at Paws A While, a Danbury Animal Welfare Society shelter in Bethel.

Now ready to begin her three-and-a-half-hour shift, Carol enters a small room where she’s greeted by the heavy odor and yowling of nearly two dozen cats. She wipes down the cages, scoops the litter boxes, feeds the cats and fills their water dishes. Carol, who is paid $7 an hour, said she likes the work “much better” than a previous job as a grocery store bagger.

“It didn’t take any intelligence at all,” said Carol, who also is responsible for monitoring the cats’ health. “I like working with animals. I think I like cats the most because they’re more independent.”  Independence is a quality she can only envy. Carol, who has spent nearly all her life living in her parents’ home, said she’d like to be on her own.

“Eventually, yes,” she said, “but I don’t make enough money ... and I’ m not much of a cook.”  Carol’s disability, not any lack of kitchen talents, is the only serious factor restricting her lifestyle. Her AS symptoms, which are caused by an underdevelopment of the brain, include deficiencies in social skills, difficulty reacting to changes, and impairments in the ability to comprehend nonverbal behaviors. Most adults with AS, while often highly functional individuals with high IQs, are so vulnerable they have no recourse but to live at home.

AS is not to be confused with mental retardation. The mentally retarded qualify for numerous services through the state Department of Mental Retardation (DMR), including residential help, day programs, employment and family supports, case management, and clinical services.

These programs would be beneficial for Carol, or any of the estimated 37,461 developmentally disabled people in Connecticut. The problem is the state’s definition of mental retardation (having an IQ of 70 or below) excludes those over the age of 21 with normal or above-average IQs from state services.

Carol, whose IQ is 130, doesn’t believe she needs any particular aid.

“So far I haven’t needed anything,” she said. “I keep my needs simple.

It’s people who complicate their lives who have problems.”  But her mother, Jan Galloway, a data management coordinator for Crompton Corporation in Middlebury, points out that Carol doesn’t fully recognize the problem.

“She lives at home. She’s isolated,” said Jan. “That’s one of the interesting things about Asperger Syndrome. Their mind is set up so that they’re quite happy in their isolation and it isn’t until you work with them extensively and give them a more social life, and show them how to use it that they realize what they’re missing.”  Carol’s situation has never been easy. She was asked to withdraw from kindergarten because she couldn’t deal with the changing tasks. In later grades she couldn’t speak in class because she was always two beats behind the rhythm of the classes. Teachers and students never waited for her to catch up. Being unable to comprehend the nuances of friendship, Carol had only one or two people who became something of a friend.

“All this was made worse by the fact she did not understand how to be a  kid,” said Jan. “Can you imagine being in a foreign land and not understanding the language, and not being able to interpret the gestures and body language either?”  One of her teachers noted that Carol did not know how to say “thank you” when given help at school. No one recognized that this wasn’t a simple foible. It was, however, a clear example of an AS sufferer’s inability to understand rules of social behavior.

“We had not been able to teach her about precisely that (classroom) situation, so of course she did not know what to do,” said Jan. “The school assumed that she was rude and unresponsive because they did not understand about her difficulty learning social skills in each situation.”  Worse was classmates’ bullying and teasing. Jan compares Carol’s ride on the school bus to “running a gauntlet” of abuse. Cruel behavior was particularly vicious in the lunchroom. By her second year of high school the family was forced to buy an answering machine to shield Carol from “the character of the calls she would get.” It got so bad, Carol was afraid to answer the phone.

Jan describes the schools’ various attempts at pinpointing her daughter’s problem as the “diagnosis du jour.” Often the label was simply “learning disabled.” Carol, who attended Whisconier School in Brookfield before graduating from Brookfield High, also went to the Forman School in Litchfield, the Riverview School GROW program, and Cape Cod Community College. The only state service she received at Brookfield was a state-sponsored summer job program for a couple of summers.

Carol did OK her first two semesters in a tightly monitored structure at Curry College in Milton, Mass., where the Bureau of Rehabilitation Services (BRS) paid the fee for a learning disability support program. But things “fell apart” in the third semester after she was moved to a less structured living arrangement. Carol returned home and was diagnosed for the first time with AS.

“When we understood what it meant, we asked the state what services were available,” Jan said. “We were told that the only state service was through the BRS. They would help her get a job. And they did — pushing carts at a local grocery store.”  Carol did that for three years before the state agreed to reopen her case. A temporary position as a library aide at Boehringer Ingleheim followed. Carol held that for three years before starting her current job at the animal shelter. She found it last September through the BRS, in conjunction with DATAHR Rehabilitation Institute.

Jan, and her husband, Jim Galloway, a self-employed engineer, want a better life for Carol, the youngest of three children. They would like to see her in a safe, affordable home, where a support system of qualified professionals could check in on her once or twice a week, perhaps making sure her bills are paid and helping her plan, an area of difficulty for her.

“Here is a person with a lifelong problem and the state requires that the support she needs be cut off,” Jan said. “Imagine if your daughter were blind; she gets a seeing eye dog, but only for one month.

“We want to be able to know that she will always have friends and a home, and that she will be cherished after we are gone. As our legal system is now structured, we cannot plan with any certainty toward this goal.”  The Galloways are politically active in efforts to prod the state into recognizing the need for services for the developmentally disabled. They are members of “The Legislative Action Coalition,” as well as support groups “Aspire” and the “Connecticut Autism Spectrum Center.” Through these groups they have met with state Rep. Mary Eberle, D-Bloomfield, and state Sen. Toni Harp, D-New Haven, the two co-chairs of the Legislature’s Public Health Committee.

“Connecticut says ‘You’re 21, you deal with it, or have your family deal with it,’” Jan said. “They should be getting appropriate services. They should have a life like anybody else. Connecticut is one of six states in the country that cuts people off in this way.”  The bottom line, she said, is that adults like her daughter receive no state services beyond those from the Bureau of Rehabilitation Services, and those end once the person is in a job — which is exactly when a job coach is needed most.

·        Article continues at:

http://www.newstimes.com/cgi-bin/dbs.cgi?db=news&view_records=1&id=22967 <- - address ends here.

* * *

 

Reader’s Posts

I have a 7 yr old diagnosed last year with “high functioning” autism.  The school system won’t accept the diagnosis, as he doesn’t fall into their scale.  This translates to; they won’t tell us what services are available.

If anyone in the State of Va. (Richmond area especially), has found a school

Would be interested to hear from anyone that has tried Chiropractic with

their ASD child.  We are just beginning it and would like to hear of

The Autism Home Page, a provider of practical information on autism on the

web since 1998, is moving to: http://communities.msn.com/TheAutismHomePage/

Families can share information, experiences, and assist each other by

communicating through this site. Please join and check in periodically.You

may be able to help another person! FANS-Org · Florida Asperger’s Network

Looking for new therapists for my 3 year old son, with Autism.  I need OT,

PT, SLP, any and all included.  College students who are willing and eager

to earn experience and credits for college courses.  No experience

necessary; training provided by the University of Washington.  Be willing to

come to rural Arlington/Granite Falls, WA.  My work schedule will allow only

weekends for now, but hopefully evenings will open up soon.

Putting together an International Press conference at the Commons on

Thursday wth the help of J Kirkbride MP.  Need representation from

Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, USA  Australia, New Zealand  countries which

 

 

>>  FREE (Almost) READER’S POSTS <<

For Individuals, organizations, non-commercial and commercial. Limit your posting to no more than 60 words please. There is no charge for this service, but posters are obligated to thank all those who take the time to answer your ads. This is a consideration for others with autism after you and yours, who seek assistance from appreciated readers. Send submissions to:

POSTING@FEAT.ORG

Lenny Schafer, Editor@feat.org  •  CALENDAR EVENTS@feat.org Michelle Guppy

Catherine Johnson PhD  •  Ron Sleith  •  Kay Stammers  •  Edward Decelie

UNSUBSCRIBE: FEATNews-signoff-request@LIST.FEAT.ORG

 

ALL INFORMATION, DATA, AND MATERIAL CONTAINED, PRESENTED, OR PROVIDED HERE IS FOR GENERAL INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED AS REFLECTING THE KNOWLEDGE OR OPINIONS OF THE PUBLISHER, AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED OR INTENDED AS PROVIDING MEDICAL OR LEGAL ADVICE.  THE DECISION WHETHER OR NOT TO VACCINATE IS AN IMPORTANT AND COMPLEX ISSUE AND SHOULD BE MADE BY YOU, AND YOU ALONE, IN CONSULTATION WITH YOUR HEALTH CARE PROVIDER.