Joseph Beaudoin (1955-2006)
July 14, 2006 by Kristina Chew, PhD
Filed under Health
Joseph Beaudoin was born on Christmas day, 1955 and died on February 21, 2006. Joseph was autistic. Joseph was beaten to death by his roommate, Edward “Teddy” Shuman, in the Fairfield Center in Ohio.
Tina Beaudoin Borich, Joseph Beaudoin’s sister, provided this photo of her brother.
Rather than saying more about the circumstances surrounding’s Joseph’s death, I have been thinking about his 50 years of life. How often have I seen my nine-year-old autistic son Charlie hold his shoulders squared in just that way? How often have I put my arm around him and looked at him, and smiled, as Joseph’s mother is in the photograph?
I wish I could have met Joseph. I am thinking about him now, and will be often in the future.
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Check out what others are saying about this post...[...] My initial post about Marcus Fiesel back in August prompted many expressions of shock and sorrow; my initial post about John Odgren set off an often acrimonious exchange of comments regarding his having Asperger’s syndrome. And perhaps it might be better—might be easier—not to mention all this violence; certainly there is plenty else to talk about concerning autism. It seems to me, though that there are more than enough of these kinds of stories regarding autism in the mass media, about violence, or aggression, or the horror of it all. I do not think it would be right not to respond to these kinds of stories—-I think of Joseph Beaudoin, who was killed by his roommate just over a year ago, on February 21, 2006; do you remember him?—-and I think it all the more necessary to write about these stories because “violence, suffering, and horror” are the public perception and understanding of autism. [...]