A Letter That Will Make You Feel Uncomfortable at Best

[Sorter]

A family is in shock and a community has united after an anonymous hate letter was written about a young boy living with severe autism.

Karla Begley told CityNews her son Max, 13, stays with his grandmother in the morning during the summer time. It was at that home in Newcastle where letter was delivered on Friday.

“I was shaking when I was reading it,” Brenda Millson, Max’s grandmother, told CityNews. “It’s awful words. You don’t know why somebody would ever do such a thing.”

The typed, one-page letter refers to the young boy as a “nuisance” and a “wild animal” before suggesting the family move or “euthanize” the child.

Begley says the police have been contacted and should they have grounds, charges will be filed against the letter’s author.
http://www.citynews.ca/2013/08/18/fa...n-with-autism/

[loochy]

Originally Posted by fan4ever

Y'know, I can get people being irritated by things like this in addition to it being a situation they don't understand or appreciate. In all honesty, I wouldn't like it either...but isn't that when we're supposed to better than that? The Golden Rule? Maybe take a second to think about what these people's lives are like and maybe the last thing they need is a crappy neighbor making things even worse.

He's not defending the letter. That's not the proper way to deal with it.

[fan4ever]

Originally Posted by Pestilence

From what my wife said....she was probably around 40-50.

Stupid thing is.....is my daughter is quiet and polite. You'd never know she was there because she doesn't make a ton of a noise. The stupid **** just didn't like the fact that she had to share the same air with her. AFAIC.....the old bitch can stop breathing and die.

Oh, so you just ran across a stupid bitch. That'll happen.

Your wife should have paid for the lady's lunch and then had the waitress tell her that "The lady with the little girl paid for your lunch. She said it must be really hard to go through life as a moron and felt sorry for you".

[fan4ever]

Originally Posted by loochy

He's not defending the letter. That's not the proper way to deal with it.

No, I know that...didn't mean to insinuate he did. Wasn't criticizing, just discussing. Sorry for any confusion.

[fan4ever]

Originally Posted by loochy

Well, some people are telling stories about their encounters with mentally handicapped folks. On the side, JASONSAUTO and Frazod are bitching at each other about nothing.

I've been waiting for Obama to invite these two to the White House for a beer.

[The Franchise]

I do have a ton of respect for parents who have to go through what they go through on a daily basis. I was best friends with a kid in high school who had a mentally handicapped brother and I always asked him how he dealt with everything. His brother was around 3 years older than us and spent most of the day in the "special" classes....but kids are obviously dickheads and used to make fun of him all the time.

[fan4ever]

Originally Posted by Pestilence

I do have a ton of respect for parents who have to go through what they go through on a daily basis. I was best friends with a kid in high school who had a mentally handicapped brother and I always asked him how he dealt with everything. His brother was around 3 years older than us and spent most of the day in the "special" classes....but kids are obviously dickheads and used to make fun of him all the time.

Kids have the excuse of ignorance; hard to hold it against them. Now adults on the other hand...

[patteeu]

Originally Posted by fan4ever

Y'know, I can get people being irritated by things like this in addition to it being a situation they don't understand or appreciate. In all honesty, I wouldn't like it either...but isn't that when we're supposed to better than that? The Golden Rule? Maybe take a second to think about what these people's lives are like and maybe the last thing they need is a crappy neighbor making things even worse.

After you take a second to think about all the possibilities, maybe you can conceive of situations where a family with a special needs child actually has some responsibility to prevent certain foreseeable outcomes. Just to come up with an easy to understand example (even though it's highly unlikely), if the mother of a special needs child lets the child play in the car that's parked in the back yard by honking it's horn at 2 am while the neighbors are trying to sleep, the problem would be the child's mother not the angry neighbors.

I don't know that I can fully appreciate the difficulties people like you and my friend face, but I think I appreciate it enough to understand that a reasonable amount of slack should be given. But that slack isn't endless.

[Dayze]

This is my fear of having kids.
I don't think I could handle it.

I'm broke and stressed out as is.

[patteeu]

Originally Posted by Dayze

This is my fear of having kids.
I don't think I could handle it.

I'm broke and stressed out as is.

I'm fortunate enough to have kids who are healthy and that's stressful enough. I really can't imagine how difficult it must be to take care of children who have serious, long term health problems whether physical or mental. I have a great deal of respect for the people with the strength to do it.

[Dayze]

yep; me too.

[fan4ever]

Originally Posted by patteeu

After you take a second to think about all the possibilities, maybe you can conceive of situations where a family with a special needs child actually has some responsibility to prevent certain foreseeable outcomes. Just to come up with an easy to understand example (even though it's highly unlikely), if the mother of a special needs child lets the child play in the car that's parked in the back yard by honking it's horn at 2 am while the neighbors are trying to sleep, the problem would be the child's mother not the angry neighbors.

I don't know that I can fully appreciate the difficulties people like you and my friend face, but I think I appreciate it enough to understand that a reasonable amount of slack should be given. But that slack isn't endless.

Absolutely; that's why (I posted this earlier) I don't take my son to movies although he loves them. He can't stay quiet and I don't want to ruin the movie for everyone else. Some parents do feel that since they've been given this burden, everyone else should accomodate them and that's unfortunate because it really is counter-productive.

[ShortRoundChief]

Originally Posted by Pestilence

Once again....not in the same aspect of what you're going through....but my 6 year old daughter has to get 24 hour EEGs 3 or 4 times a year to measure her brain activity. So for 24 hours...she has to wear electrodes on her head...and her head is then wrapped up so she doesn't mess with them. All of the electrodes are attached to wires that run down to a backpack that she has to wear. Everytime that my daughter gets one done....my wife takes her out for lunch and to pick out a small toy.

My wife called me crying one time because they were out eating lunch and some lady walked by the table they were sitting at and said under her breath "she shouldn't even be here.....keep her at home next time". ****ing **** is lucky I wasn't there because I would have snapped.

oh yeah. To me that is justifiable homicide.

[patteeu]

Originally Posted by fan4ever

Absolutely; that's why (I posted this earlier) I don't take my son to movies although he loves them. He can't stay quiet and I don't want to ruin the movie for everyone else. Some parents do feel that since they've been given this burden, everyone else should accomodate them and that's unfortunate because it really is counter-productive.

That's all I meant by asking what "louder" meant. If it's just a kid out in the back yard in the afternoon swinging on a swing set while singing off-key at the top of his lungs, it seems like something the neighbors ought to be able to deal with. If it's banging on the side of a tin shed with a hammer at 6 am, the parents should probably take the hammer away or keep the kid inside for a couple more hours.

[FlaChief58]

Originally Posted by patteeu

I'm fortunate enough to have kids who are healthy and that's stressful enough. I really can't imagine how difficult it must be to take care of children who have serious, long term health problems whether physical or mental. I have a great deal of respect for the people with the strength to do it.

This. I thank God my kids & grandkids are all healthy. I have the utmost respect for those who have special needs kids

[fan4ever]

Originally Posted by Dayze

This is my fear of having kids.
I don't think I could handle it.

I'm broke and stressed out as is.

We have family members who can't have a baby and they were going to adopt a special needs baby. They told my wife and I that we were an inspiration to them that they wanted to do this. We told them as much as we appreciate the compliment, they should think long and hard about doing such a thing...we didn't sign up for this challenge and would love to not have this on our plate. That being said, if you're in a strong marriage, you can handle more than you ever dreamed...