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  • Looking at Appearances
    Lynette commented on the article | over 2 years ago
    Looking at Appearances

    Dora and Joe thank you for your comments. My husband and I are also parents of a 13 year old autistic child who is already 6' 1". We are African-American and I am 6' 0" and my husband is 6' 3". He has brothers are 6' 9" and 6' 3" and a sister who is the 5' 7". Therefore he is already tall and has the potential to be taller. However, he is gentle by most standards and more afraid of the world in general. He is high functioning Autistic and people just fall in love with him because of his gentle nature. However I respond to your comments knowing that some in this big world will not see him that way on first sight. We already had a situation where one of our sons habilitators/support staff was taking him for a walk in our neighborhood and was stopped by the cops who wanted to know what they were doing walking around. This was in the daytime so this was truly uncalled for. The habilitator is also an African American male and responded politely to the officer that they were just taking a walk with his autistic client and had they done something wrong. The officer became loud and really scared my son and at the same time the worker explained his role and that his client lived in the neighborhood. He then asked for them to put there hand us and produce ID rudely. The habilitator told my son the officer was just trying to do his job as he watched my son begin to shake and his eyes become tear filled. Once he returned home and advised us we immediately called the police department and filed a complaint and asked to speak with superiors who at first tried to justify the officers actions, but after finding out that he was walking in his own neighborhood, in the daytime, and that the officer was notified of my son's diagnosis and the workers role. That he was still unsympethetic and rude and ended his comments telling them to stay out of trouble. They finally apologized for his behaviour. We too always had concerns with our son because of his race and size, however we found out way to early how delicate these issues can really be. By the way our son is still afraid of the police, he wasn't at first considering his uncle is a detective, but as I am sure you both know, it takes time to undo these type of fears in our children. This happened about 2 years ago. We can get angry or we can educate, that is why I founded a autism support group focused on the african-american community and the unique needs, challenges, and triumphs that is built to assist with inclusion in the Autism support and services community and to educate the community as a whole on the unique cultural needs of our community.

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