I was reading last night about Evelyn Towry and see that FRIDA has written a post about "the handcuffing and subsequent detention of eight-year-old Evelyn Towry, a third grader at Kootenai Elemenary who has Asperger's Syndrome after she was told she couldn't wear a cow costume to a Christmas party".
After teachers tried to restrain her, Evelyn said "Well, I kicked because I was upset they were holding me down and I got thumb bruises on me." The police were then called and she was charged with battery, which was later dropped. Apparently no battery charges were filed against the staff, although Evelyn indicates she was bruised. I find this interesting, having been assaulted by aides myself . So maybe I am more likely to question exactly what kind of force was used before the child began to kick . Maybe we need cameras in the schools?
The school indicated there were ongoing problems with Evelyn and a police lieutenant stated "Teachers and the principal wished to pursue charges because they felt there were ongoing problems and this was the only way to resolve it." That, in and of itself, speaks volumes about how far schools have to go in developing effective ways to work toward resolution of issues adult to adult, rather than resorting to the arrest of a child likely to be traumatized by that.
FRIDA had this cite to a post with comments from members of the autistic community as well as teachers over at Autism-Change.org. A very interesting discussion going on over there that you might want to check out.
I'll be updating this with other links as I see them or feel free to leave them in the comments.
WrongPlanet.net
PatriciaEBauer
The Coalition for Positive Behavioral Interventions & Supports
Media dis&dat
DisabilityIntel
4 comments:
Why not have camera's in the schools! We have them on the streets, in stores, in banks, in police cars and even some share a ride programmes have them as well. So why not in the schools this way things like this will not happen and if it does it will show exactly what had happen and the whys behind it. Don't get me wrong I am not for the big brother watching over us sort, however in this case this would protect the childs rights to.
Thanks for your comments.
LetRVoiceBHeard - why don't I have your site about service dogs on my blogroll?!?!? I'll have to correct that.
Wheelie Catholic - It's a pretty new forum (Sept. 2008). So just basically getting off the ground sort of speak. And mostly because I don't think I posted before here. grins.
However like to say thank you for putting PwD SD Awareness site in your blogroll, really appreciate it.
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