If you have a child with Autism, could this happen to you?

FranticFrummie

Sat, Apr 01 2017, 8:40 pm

http://www.timesofisrael.com/m.....oing/

The mother of an Israeli-American teen believed to have been behind hundreds of hoax bomb threats against Jewish institutions in the US said her son has diagnosed autism and could not control his actions due to a tumor in his brain.

Police say he is behind a range of threats against Jewish community centers and other buildings linked to Jewish communities in the United States in recent months, and is alleged to have made hundreds of threatening phone calls over the past two to three years, targeting schools and other public institutions in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

He had an antenna in his bedroom, with which he connected to the internet without being easily traced, and used voice-masking technology

The article leaves a lot of important questions unanswered. If they boy "rarely leaves the house", then how does he have a huge collection of bus and train tickets? If he doesn't have a job, how could he afford all the sophisticated equipment he had, unless his parents bought it for him? How could the parents not know that the calls were coming from inside their home, if one parent was at home at all times (they worked opposite shifts.)

After making these calls for years, how could he "Not know what he was doing?" Keep in mind, the story says that he has a genius IQ, and he is obviously highly verbal. There is definitely WAY more that we need to learn about this story.

Can you imagine your child doing these calls, for YEARS, in your own home, without you knowing anything about it? Do you think that the parents are liable, considering that their child may be considered unable to care for himself, and therefore 100% under their responsibility? How would you feel if you found out that your child was making these calls?

Chana Miriam S

Sat, Apr 01 2017, 8:59 pm

I don't believe autism caused this. Lots of ppl on the autism spectrum are lovely people. Being on the spectrum doesn't make one a Shmuck.

Brain tumours can cause horrible behaviours but I would hope that he was being treated.

Seems like his parents were a bit clueless, but I also don't micromanage my adult asd son's behaviour. Although he is a total sweetheart, and I'd be pretty shocked if he did anything that wasn't mensch like.

petiteruchy

Sat, Apr 01 2017, 10:25 pm

this sounds completely unrelated to autism... although having autism doesn't preclude you from doing bad things; autism doesn't make you a good or bad person.

I did find another article, from bbc. it's a lot less sensational. 23 calls, nothing about the tumor. it does matter where you get your news sources, they inform the whole tone of the story.

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-nor.....57147

amother

Seafoam

Sat, Apr 01 2017, 10:54 pm

I dont have the answer to all your questions but I wanted to point out that having autism does not preclude you from committing crimes. There were a few people who were diagnosed with Autism/Aspergers who committed mass murder so the two are not mutually exclusive. People on the spectrum have difficulty understanding social norms so if they play violent video games then they may think that its okay/socially acceptable to commit murder or other crimes in real life as well.
As they say, if you know one person with autism then you know one person with autism. Autism is a spectrum and presents differently in different people so you can never judge all autistic people just because you know one autistic person.

http://www.newyorker.com/magaz.....oning

http://theconversation.com/asp.....27194

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/1.....?_r=0

http://www.ageofautism.com/200......html

Chana Miriam S

Sun, Apr 02 2017, 3:00 am

amother wrote:

I'm pretty sure that I can come up with way more criminal acts perpetrated by 'typical' people.

FranticFrummie

Sun, Apr 02 2017, 4:22 am

I think what's really bothering me about this, is that people who don't have an understanding of ASD are going to read this, and think "All people with Autism are capable of this." The media loves to make a big deal about a school shooter having Asperger's, and so on. This is just another blow to any parent of a child on the spectrum, and sets understanding back another (very large) step.

I can't shake the feeling that there is so much context missing, that saying "Because ASD..." is doing everyone a huge disservice. I have a SN kiddo who is often misunderstood, so this is really hitting a nerve for me. I also know many kids and adults on the spectrum. The vast majority are wonderful people who are doing the best they can, and only a few are real jerks (just like the general population.)

Forrealx

Sun, Apr 02 2017, 4:24 am

I have had once the diagnosis autism, and I feel shame and guilt when I hear these things. Don't like it is makes me feel a bad person. But as someone who did an education in healthcare I now autism is different like every human being is different. So what does it say? It says nothing. As said above, I know from brain tumors ppl can do very strange things. I've once had a case study about a men who got into jail by abusing his children because there was a tumor in a part of the brain where the controle on s-xuality is...

harriet

Sun, Apr 02 2017, 8:03 am

petiteruchy wrote:

The bbc article appears to be about a different person entirely unless I am misunderstanding something