Adam Race’s Mother At Hearing Over Restraining Order
June 25, 2008 by Kristina Chew, PhD
Filed under Health
Yesterday, Carol Race took the stand at a hearing in Long Prairie, Minnesota, over the restraining order filed against her 13-year-old son, Adam Race, by the Church of St. Joseph in Bertha. From WDAY.com:
[Carol Race] represented herself at Tuesday’s hearing, and questioned the Reverend Daniel Walz for about 30 minutes.
Walz acknowledged that he did not witness all of the alleged disruptions, but said he believes they happened.
Judge Sally Ireland Robertson took the matter under advisement and said she would rule later.
Afterward, Race said she was disappointed that she wasn’t allowed to question the priest about his credibility. She said she and her family will return to the church if the restraining order is lifted.
Wow. I’d find it really hard to return to a church that had treated me like that.
Joe
It doesn’t seem that it would get more comfortable, either.
Um, guys, Adam urinated on the church floor, hit another child, pulled a teenage girl on to his lap and held her there, started someone else’s car in the parking lot, and bumped into elderly churchgoers.
thanks for the information. were you present when you saw these things occur?
Something that I have been kind of surprised that has not been highlighted, is that in this hearing, questions about church policy or ADA were stated not to be relevant.
My understanding on reading, and re-reading, the account is that the question being deliberated is whether Adam Race’s behavior, and in this case, alleged behavior as there is some difference of interpretation and attribution, in church constituted “harassment” of the congregation. That point seems significant and potentially beyond this particular case.
no I wasn’t. Is it in question that these things did not occur? I imagine there would have been several witnesses to each disruption, don’t you?
I was simply judging by what I’ve read of the situation.
As bad as I feel for the Race family, I simply think that Adam needs to find an alternative place to worship so he does not cause harm to anyone else. The church seemed to try to find some alternatives, but was unsuccesful.
I am having a hard time finding churches in MN that are dedicated to those with autism. Do places like this exist?
From reading a statement by Carol Race, Adam’s mother, and comparing this to the media reports, it seems that there are a few discrepancies and simply misunderstandings. I am hopeful that churches with services for autistic and/or special needs kids do exist; I will try to ask some friends in MN.
What I have such a hard time understanding is they refer to it as ‘Harrassment’…Wikipedia states that when harrassment is used in a legal sense that it is behaviours that are found threatening or disturbing…There are so many medical conditions that cause a persons actions or even appearance to be distrubing to certain people in society, are we to hide all these people away so they can’t be accused of harrassing on a daily basis? RIDICULOUS!! The other thing is that this is CHURCH, the bible mentions many times that it doesn’t matter what issues you have, follow him…specifically associating with lepers, prostitutes, and others deemed unfit by that days society…not to mention the following verse “[15] People were also bringing babies to Jesus to have him touch them. When the disciples saw this, they rebuked them. [16] But Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. [17] I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” from Luke 18.
Baker:
According to detailed statements from Carol on my blog, the accusations against her son are highly, highly exagerrated. If you are truly interested in hearing the full story on this, and not simply blindly believing whatever statement is issued by the Church, go to Google and search the blogs on this issue for Carol’s comments.
Here is another story of a child being kicked out of a restaurant because she had autism. The manager of the restaurant said that people with autism should not go out in public. This is the logical conclusion of the Race story. Not simply being banned from Mass, but banned from anywhere in public on the basis of having Autistic behaviors.
http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/cityplus/story.html?id=75bd41f4-4ca8-41ee-ae31-63a7f2eb1a65
To M-could you share a link to the statements by mrs race?
In her statements that I have read other places she doesn’t dispute the actions she only justifies them as calming responses for Adam.
“Wow. I’d find it really hard to return to a church that had treated me like that.”
I’d also find it really hard to return to a church where some guy grabbed my thighs and butt, pulled me on his lap and held me there, and I was told to shut up and accept it because he didn’t know what he was doing.