What Happens To Our Children When We Die? Maine Man Killed Himself and Adult Autistic Son in 2010

"Ginger Taylor  commented on the pressures on families with autism and on the greatest fear of many parents of autistic children: "That is the big question -- what happens to our child when we die. .... We understand their needs better than anyone else. It really breaks my heart hearing what happened to this family. It shouldn't be like that.""

The Portland Press Herald , April 28, 2010

The recent murder and attempted murder/suicide cases involving mothers and their children with severe autism disorders are not the first such tragedies to occur.  Unfortunately the same patterns are unfolding ... the refusal to seriously address the need for decent, humane residential care and treatment facilities for adults with severe autism disorders continues,  the attempts by the TPGA and other ND groups like the ASAN corporation to suppress any discussion of the harsh realities of severe autism disorders and the effects on those who suffer from them and their families are continuing.  No one is speaking about what has to be done to help the severely autistic live a decent life for fear of being subjected to irrational accusations that to do so is akin to excusing or justifying the killings.  David H. Gorski, TPGA ideologues Emily Willingham, Shannon des Roches Rosa, ASAN corporation's Ari Ne'eman and blogger Matt Carey have all been eager to attack Sharyl Atkisson and CBS for daring to portray some of the harsh realities that affected Alex Spourdalakis and his mother.

Television (Big Bang Theory, any number of Criminal Minds police investigative type shows)  and the mainstream media generally, other than CBS and  Sharyl Atkisson and a few other honest conscientious reporters, will continue to portray autism as a quirky, brilliant set of personality traits, an alternative way of thinking. The majority of autistic adults and ALL severely autistic adults will continue to live in varying levels of residential care IF they are lucky. But if no one provides humane services, help and hope to the families and persons living with severe autism challenges nothing will change and the tragedies will continue.  The TGPA and ASAN corporate crowd can pretend otherwise but we have to speak up now and provide service now to prevent further tragedies.  We know this because it has happened before and nothing was done.  Below is my blog comment from 2010 concerning the man in Gray, Maine who shot and killed himself and his 22 year old autistic son:

Dennis Hoey of  The Portland Press Herald  reports that a man in Gray, Maine shot and killed himself and his 22 year old autistic son yesterday:

"A father shot and killed his autistic son Tuesday at their home on Yarmouth Road before turning the rifle on himself, Maine State Police said. Cumberland County sheriff's deputies found the bodies of Daniel McLatchie, 44, and his son, Benjamin McLatchie, 22, in the family's driveway at 227 Yarmouth Road around 2:30 p.m.  ... State police Sgt. Chris Harriman said ...  it appeared that Daniel McLatchie was upset about what would happen to his autistic son after he and his wife died. He was a stay-at-home father, Harriman said. Daniel McLatchie's wife, Allison McLatchie, 45, was at work when the shootings happened."

Ginger Taylor the Maine author of the Adventures in Autism blog, and herself the mother of an autistic son, was interviewed and  notes the lack of services including counseling services for families with autistic children.  Ms Taylor commented on the pressures on families with autism and on the greatest fear of many parents of autistic children:

"That is the big question -- what happens to our child when we die. .... We understand their needs better than anyone else. It really breaks my heart hearing what happened to this family. It shouldn't be like that."

Many people will undoubtedly condemn Daniel McLatchie for taking his son's life.   Some will call for more services.   Few, if any, will take the real action necessary to ensure that people  with autism disorders like Benjamin McLatchie have a decent place to live when their parents are dead.    

Few, during Autism Awareness Month, and certainly not Hollywood or the main stream media giants, will look beyond the  accomplishments of a few High Functioning media celebrity "autistics" to  even acknowledge the existence of severely autistic persons living desperate lives in institutional facilities.  Even fewer will acknowledge, without mocking or attacking them, the fears of parents  obsessed with worry about what will happen to their children after they die. 

In the end, whether it is at the hands of a distraught parent, or from life in prison like, psychiatric hospitals, it is the most vulnerable, the most severely affected by autism disorders who suffer from lack of reality based autism awareness and support services.

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IACC Neurodiversity Member Matt Carey Single-Handedly Reduces Intellectually Disabled To A "Small Segment of the Autistic Population"

The Interagency Autism Co-ordinating Committee (IACC) plays an important role in autism research and understanding.  It is unfortunate that sitting as a public member of the IACC is lbrb blogger Matthew J. Carey,  a member of the Neurodiversity movement which, at its core (1) portrays autism as a different way of thinking  not a disorder or disability and (2) belittles efforts to seek cures for autism. His official bio posted on the IACC web site emphasizes his considerable background as an industrial researcher and his deep commitment to "communicating the importance of getting the science right for autism".  The bio is very specific about his many accomplishments in  industrial research. Although it does describe him as a blogger the bio makes no mention of  Matthew J. Carey, Ph. D.'s anti-cure, autism is a strength Neurodiversity ideological biases:

Matthew J. Carey, Ph.D.

Parent and Autism Blogger

Dr. Matt Carey joined the IACC as a public member in 2012. Dr. Carey is the father of a young child with multiple disabilities, including autism spectrum disorder, and is a frequent contributor to the Left Brain/Right Brain blog and other autism blogs. His writing focuses on reviewing current autism research in an understandable way for the public and he is deeply committed to communicating the importance of getting the science right for autism. He is also interested in analyzing trends in health and education public data sets; his critique of "Timing of Increased Autistic Disorder Cumulative Incidence" was published in the journal Environmental Science &  Technology and his analysis of parents' academic expectations for their children with ASD, based on the 2007 National Household Education Survey, was presented at a poster session during the 2011 International Meeting For Autism Research (IMFAR). Dr. Carey is an active industrial researcher in computer hardware whose current research interests include magnetic thin films, spintronics, and magnetic nanostructures. His work has been published in high-impact journals such as Nature Materials, Physical Review Letters, and Applied Physics Letters and he currently holds 106 patents or published patent applications. He received his B.S. in physics from Harvey Mudd College, his M.S. in Physics from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of California, San Diego.

In a recent comment  at his lbrb blog criticizing the Slate article Is the Neurodiversity (ND)  Movement Misrepresenting Autism?", and its  author Amy S.F. Lutz, Carey singles in on her comments about autism and the intellectually disabled and in the process single-handedly reduces the numbers of persons with autism and intellectual disability:

 "The fact of the matter is that intellectual disability, especially those unable to read, write and/or speak, is a small segment of the autistic population. And as we learn more about autism, this fraction is an ever shrinking percentage of the identified autism population."

The fact of the matter is that,  according to CDC autism expert Dr. Marshalynn Yeargin-Allsopp, persons with autism once constituted the "vast majority" of persons with autism ... until the APA expanded autism by grouping it with PDD-NOS and Asperger's in the DSM-IV group of pervasive developmental disorders now known as the "autism spectrum" reducing the intellectual disabled to approximately 40% of the entire autism spectrum.  

The fact of the matter is that, according to  CDC surveys in 2004 and 2006 those with intellectual disability still constituted 41-44%  of the entire autism spectrum.  

The fact of the matter is that in Autism and intellectual disability: a study of prevalence on a sample of the Italian population, La Malfa G, Lassi S, Bertelli M, Salvini R, Placidi GF, the authors reported that their study confirmed the relationship between ID and autism and suggested a new approach in the study of ID in order to elaborate a new integrated model for people with ID and autism.

The fact of the matter is that IACC member Matthew J. Carey,  Ph. D., (Physics), accomplished industrial researcher, provided no sources or authorities for his claim that intellectual disability is a small segment of the autistic population.  

Of course in fairness to Matthew J. Carey, Ph. D., industrial researcher, his Neurodiversity beliefs probably didn't  allow his purported commitment to "communicating the importance of getting the science right for autism" to function properly.   

Amy F.H. Lutz is of the view, as am I, that Neurodiversity misrepresents autism.  IACC member Matthew J. Carey's attempts to single-handedly reduce the numbers of intellectually disabled is a very clear example of such misrepresentation.

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