GoShogun's Comments

Gosh, I guess it's just too hard to explain what dealing with an autistic child can really be like unless you've done it. I don't blame the mother at all. She could have been fully prepared for anything, and still had something entirely unexpected happen with her child. My view is biased, I agree, I've known many parents of autistic kids and have witnessed first hand their exhaustion, desperation and frustrations. A lot of people seemed to have a really warped view of what autism actually is and how severe it can get, maybe because of the media, or maybe because of simple lack of knowledge.

The disorder is unpredictable. There's no telling whether he WOULD be ok on the plane or not. Like the article said, he was fine on another flight. So ya, let's say the possibility of his maladaptive behaviours exist so she should find another way to travel. The possibility of his maladaptive behaviours showing up given ANY mode of travel exists. So then what? Well, maybe these kids shouldn't travel at all. Heck, there's even a possible danger if this kid is in a house, better confine him to a room. But all that space, those windows in that room, dangerous...better keep him in a cage. I know I'm exaggerating, but it's where that road of thinking leads.

I mean, we don't really need to build ramps for parapalegics, why bother spending the money? They should just learn to accept that they shouldn't have access to any place above ground level. That sound ok to you guys too?

I am not denying that the flight crew did any wrong by following regulations. But a little patience and understanding is not a lot to ask for from a group of individuals with fully healthy minds.
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Jennifer

They did have an alternative. I know this because I have been in the EXACT same situation on a plane, like I said. With an autistic child who was much older than 2. They did not yell at him, they did not tug on his seatbelt, I told them to give him space. They respected me, asked me what I needed if anything, moved us to a seat in the back corner of the plane. Case in point, they HELPED. It's a choice they made. The crew of this flight made the safe and right decisions, sure. But they could have HELPED and they chose not to.

And nobody can tell me that just because someone has autism, they don't have the right to a free pass like that. Because they do. They deserve more, because they've had more taken away from them by no choice of their own OR their parents in most cases.
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I feel half the people posting here are totally ignorant and are making massive assumptions. I worked with autistic children for 6 years. If you think it has ANYTHING to do with parenting styles, you're an idiot. It is nothing like plain ADHD and most kids with autism also have ADHD.

Sometimes, there just really is nothing you can do about an autistic child having a tantrum. There are times when they will be happy and fine doing something 99% of the time and then just one time, they will go berserk and scream bloody murder. It can be entirely unprovoked and unpredictable. Autism is also a spectrum disorder. One kid with autism may never tantrum, while another tantrums 10 times an hour.

Can they be dangerous? Yes, I have the scars to prove it. But our program still took over 2 dozen severely autistic kids out in the community nearly everyday. We've had violent outbursts in malls, parks, carnivals etc. Do you want to know how many times a bystander ever got hurt in my entire 6 years? Zero, never. Because we were trained to deal with them given any circumstance.

I myself, took a child on a plane to Disneyland as he was invited by Dreams Take Flight (program that takes disadvantaged kids to Disneyland for a day). He was fine on the flight there, but the flight back, he got out of his seatbelt, screamed, bit me etc. I used my training and dealt with him the best I could. You know what the flight attendant told me that day? She said "Thank you for doing what you do and being so brave. You're doing a wonderful job". That is an attitude people can choose to take.

On the other hand, I've been with an autistic girl who had a meltdown at a park, and a woman once told me "That child should not be allowed in public ever!". The girl had harmed noone. Just caused a scene. I wanted to punch the woman in the face. Because where does it end? These kids, who already have challenging lives in every aspect, need to be kept in cages? Would that work for the public? Would you be more comfortable never being exposed to the "non-normal" aspect of our species?

They wouldn't be ANY safer in a padded room than out in public, and they really do enjoy being out in the community, believe me. Humanity includes ALL of us, even ones with broken minds that weren't born "normal". And they have every right to have an opportunity to do things everybody else does and we, who have been gifted with the ability to help them and handle them, WE should accommadate THEM, and not the other way around.

Those that parent or work with these kids, are trained to deal with them. Perhaps this woman had no idea what she was doing, which I hardly believe seeing as it was his mom. But I guarantee, in the end, this child would have done nothing to endanger this flight. He would have just been an annoyance. I've sat beside really fat people on flights, that's annoying too. I've sat beside drunk people. That's annoying. I've sat beside smelly people. That's annoying. You know what I do? I deal with it, because it just so happens that humans are not all just cookie cutter copies of perfection.
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Lol, I remember when I was little and I'd laugh my ass off giving my hamster grapes that he'd stuff in his cheeks. I think he only managed 4. I on the other hand, managed over 30 once before I laughed and they all went spewing out.
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Profile for GoShogun

  • Member Since 2012/08/11


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