Attack on autistic teen posted on YouTube
August 27, 2008 by Kristina Chew, PhD
Filed under Uncategorized
This past June, a 16-year-old with autism is punched in the face and bullied by a teenager who attends the same high school—-and the whole attack is videotaped and posted on YouTube. The 16-year-old’s family saw the video and was able to identify the attacked. WSBT (South Bend, Indiana) interviewed Joyce Vermillion and Amber Fairchild, the mother and sister of the boy who was attacked:
“First it was bad enough that they did it. Then they videotaped it. Then they made it into a joke. They did it in slow motion and they replayed it frame by frame,” Fairchild said. “It hurts my feelings so bad, it hurts my heart.”
The family says the boy’s face was swollen after the attack, but since then he has been doing well.
The video helped the family identify his attacker, who attends the same high school.
Mishawaka police said the police report was filed Tuesday and officers are on the case.
The telltale video is no longer on YouTube; Fairchild was able to download it.
And you really have to wonder, what were the teenagers who did the bullying it thinking. Or not.
Looking for Autistic (Child) Actors
August 2, 2008 by Kristina Chew, PhD
Filed under Education, Movies
Thomas Brown, a filmmaker in Ohio, is making two films, one called Ant Boy and the other Silent Hero, which both include autistic characters. Today’s Port Clinton News notes that both films are to be about autism, bullying and the emotional issues that children face. Brown (who can be contacted by email) is looking for an autistic child to play the autistic child, if he can. Would this be one of the few times or even the first to have someone autistic play…..someone autistic, in a film that’s not a documentary?
Jeff Stimpson
Jill Cornfield