Have you heard the one about the catholic priest?

[isthiscp]

I know that that sounded like the start of a joke but to be honest when I read the article I thought it was. I dont know if anyone had heard but there is a catholic priest in the states that has taken out a restraining order against the parents of a severly autistic 13 yr old boy to stop them from bringing him to church!!!!!!! Apparently, he is "unruly and disruptive". I found this SHOCKING. I am a lapsed catholic but doesnt Jesus say in the bible "Bring all of the little children unto me"? As far as I am aware it also says " Blessed are the sick........." Or has this "priest" conviently forgotten what he should be teaching?

[grandmapenny]

Wow!  I am a member in a congregation where I have seen a young man in his 20's participate in our congregation activites.  One meeting we have is a school to teach speaking/ ministry skills.  He regularly gives readings.  He can decode well but reads without inflection.  Still everyone enjoys his readings.  He loves to get up there and "do what dad does".  I have also seen a young man with Downs Syndorme give a reading and an older man who has Alzheimers.  In each case their participation was welcomed.  The young man with Autism also has a mental illness and "collects" things.  Everryone knows this and is carelful not to leave "things" that they don't want confiscated laying around.  If it happens the things are returned and accepted with good grace.  I am a special education teacher and it really touches me to see this committment by a religious community.  I am one of Jehovah's Witnesses.

[MJIthewriter]

You are not alone with your observations.  I've noticed that pretty commonly with people... In fact the very things they may critizize, they may be doing themselves.

At times I feel like I'm the least "autistic" in a group, lol.

[Sally44]

I understand what you are saying.  Many times I have found the people/institutions I am dealing with are showing more autistic behaviour than my son.  Eg. a need for them to keep to their rigid routines and rituals and a total lack of imagination to be able to see how they might be able to meet my sons needs.  Coupled with a total lack of communication.

[isthiscp]

To be honest the reason I posted that was really to highlight the response of people(and in my opinion people who should be more tolerant ie clergy) to autism. There seems to be the feeling out there that autistic kids are just "badly behaved" which we all know isnt true. But the general perception is unfavourable for autistic kids

[MJIthewriter]

Then again if you think about it, if that particular autistic person had their way, they probably wouldn't be going to church to begin with!  To that person it's like being forced to go some place against his/her will.

On an emotional and cognitive level, I'm beginning to see there is quite a bit in common between people considered autistic and non autistic.  Just what those things are and to what degree is what makes it different.

A non autistic child going some place against their will, probably would whine, "I don't wanna go! It's too boring!" or related complaint. They may also talk about wanting to go home. Depending on their coping ability, they may give up whining and just wait it out and put up with the non pleasurable experience...

An autistic child may or may not be able to identify their feelings of boredom. They just know they feel crabby, upset, but not on a conscious level... As a result these feelings of extreme frustration and emotional outbursts seem to come out of nowhere for both the autistic child and the outside world/people around the child.

A non autistic adult being forced... Will probably complain or drag their heels. They don't wanna go, they don't wanna go. There's no making them go, because they are fully grown and can take care of themself. Anyone who dares to challenge this will be brushed off and possibly written off as a potential friend...

An autistic adult:  Has the same feelings but may or may not vocalize those feelings, depending on their skill level and maturity.  Because a number of adults are still taken care of and treated like children, they are forced to go places against their will... As a result they may have to turn to more drastic physical efforts to thwart off the offending attacks against their will.. This can manifest in physical violent attacks.

It's important for all people to come to identify and understand their feelings... Once a person knows what they are feeling, they can work towards ways to express and cope with it.

[Sally44]

I agree it's a good idea to have something to do.  I usually take a couple of toys for my son to play with.  But I can imagine that a 'severely autistic' child would find it very hard to cope, and although there is probably another quiet room the child could stay and play in, I bet there is no-one able (or willing) to stay in that room with the child apart from the parents.  Which kind of defeats the object of going to church in the first place.

[MJIthewriter]

What????!
That's just not right...

I’m not much into church atm, because I have a hard time sitting down and trying to listen to the pastor speaking without zoning out or going on mental tangents... I like to be doing something when I'm at church. It isn't enough to just be in the audience... When I’m doing something it helps keep me focused.

I tend to feel like there are other things I’d rather be doing if I don’t have something in front of me to do. I gather i'm not alone...  Just most people may be able to hide this fact better than others. For autistic children, it may be harder to communicate this feeling. Overall most of the sensory things don't seem to bother me. It's more a prefrence or a dislike than a terrible aversion.  I have more issues when the service lets out and people start clogging up the aisles and pathways to chat... The chatter can get bothersome.  In that case I either put up with it, seek out a quieter space, or ask my parents/grandma politely if we can leave, that I'm getting tired or stressed out.

Singing: I have issues finding the right hymn, reading the music and keeping pace with everyone else… Unless the words are printed out on a screen, I usually just keep quiet and listen. I figure “God” won’t mind me singing and praising silently in my head.

Once again I gather I'm not alone, but once I realize this about myself and come to accept it, I feel less stressed than if I try to force myself to keep pace and sing if the music is coming from a hymn.  At one time my dad tried to pressure me to sing, but it didn't work well. I tried just because of him, but stopped when it got to be too much. Dad eventually gave up pestering me to sing.

[Sally44]

It does sound awful.  But usually the newspapers hype it up to make a better story.  If the child really is disruptive, then I suppose they can't just let it continue.  But I would have thought it a bit risky to take any autistic child into a church given the noise/echo, smell, singing, lots of people etc etc.  My son hates it there.  But a restraining order???Unfortunately I can believe that this type of response is quite common.  I usually have to attend any out of school club with my son, because there simply isn't anyone with knowledge of autism to support him and I cannot leave him to 'drift around'.  I started doing this because I was getting the feed back that maybe the club 'wasn't suitable' for my son.  Autistic children usually do need one to one support and it just isn't available.