Blaming Parents: Autism Families Torn Apart by Ignorance

Families with autistic children, parents who love their autistic children dearly,  must endure much in order to live a normal life with their children, to be happy with their children to see them grow and develop to the best of their abilities notwithstanding their disabilities.  The concerns and challenges of parents of autistic children are often dismissed contemptuously by scientists, health care professionals, educators, social workers ... and some involved with the justice system. 

Last week the world learned that a caring British Columbia single father lost his autistic daughter to that province's children's authorities, at least temporarily, because she had left the home unattended and wandered to a nearby home where she stayed for a couple of hours. The father had taken precautions to prevent such incidents and had run to look for her when he realized she had left the home. He called police and she was found safe and sound but still the government took his child apparently because they doubted his ability to provide her with secure care.   

The Detroit Free Press has been reporting extensively (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 ) on the havoc wreaked upon a Michigan family, the Wendrow family,  when the parents were charged with sexually abusing their severely autistic and mute daughter. The evidence was provided by a social worker who purportedly communicated with the daughter via facilitated communication a process which in this case involved the worker guiding the child's hand as part of the "communication" process. The case imploded when the child could not answer ANY questions, in any format, unassisted. It became obvious that the information purportedly communicated by the daughter was simply the beliefs of the social worker not the allegedly abused daughter. The parents did spend time in jail and the family, including the daughter, were separated. What I find most bizarre and disturbing  in this case though is how far the prosecution continued without any apparent legal foundation:

"Julian and Thal Wendrow were criminally charged in late 2007 after their 14-year-old autistic and mute daughter alleged, through facilitated communication, that her father had been sexually abusing her. They were separated from their children for 106 days, until prosecutors dropped the case because of lack of evidence.


...


The ordeal didn't end when it was clear that the girl wasn't communicating, after all. It didn't end when a sexual assault exam found no proof of abuse. And it didn't end when a prosecution witness insisted the abuse never happened."

TIME has reported on the six part investigative series by the Detroit Free Press and noted in its own commentary about facilitated communication generally, and the horrendous impact on a family of its use in this criminal prosecution of the father for allegedly raping his autistic daughter, that:

"the technique, in which the aide's hand is supposedly guided by the child to type what she wants to say, has been proved ineffective. It has been shown to rely on the aide's projections rather than to reflect the child's thoughts. Although some autistic children can learn to communicate genuinely via a keyboard with only initial guidance, facilitated communication, in which an aide always does the typing has repeatedly failed to demonstrate that the words are written or thought by the child. For example, when the facilitator is not allowed to hear the questions being asked of the child, the resulting answers are wrong or nonsensical.

When the Wendrow's daughter's aide typed allegations of sexual abuse against the girl's father and brother — and claimed that the child's mother had been ignoring her complaints — a prosecution of the family was set into motion that became nearly unstoppable. The aide refused to believe she was not typing her own ideas, even though the child was clearly not capable of the complex language being attributed to her. Once prosecutors and the aide became convinced of the truth of the allegations, even overwhelming evidence of their falsehood was ignored."

Parents of autistic children face many challenges trying to raise and care for their autistic children. Most of us  face some of those challenges .. the stares and looks from strangers who do not understand the screaming of the "obviously spoiled" child in the grocery store, the educators and doctors who ignore the input of parents.  Some face the grief a father is going through right now in British Columbia.  Few of us face the horror of a wrongful criminal prosecution as the Wendrow family has had to endure; or the after effects they will probably have to continue to face.  Behind it all though is a common thread, a thread that goes back to the "refrigerator mothers" theory of autism causation that was embraced so willingly by the psychology and psychiatry establishments, to that theory's politically correct replacement - the "it's gotta be genetic" theory of autism causation. It is easy to find fault, to blame parents, for the challenges faced by their autistic children who suffer from serious neurological disorders ... who suffer from autism spectrum disorders. 

As a father with a severely autistic son,  who happens to also be a lawyer,  I commend the defense team that represented the Wendrows throughout the criminal prosecution.  I commend the Detroit Free Press for bringing this story to the forefront when so many in the mainstream media refuse to comment on the harsher realities of autism disorders and their impacts on families.  Most of all I commend the Wendrow family for staying strong, for fighting the good fight.  I wish them well.