Alana really has some disturbed moral sense passed down from her mother. Jason suffered because he was born to a selfish family, who simply decided it'd be better so they wouldn't have to suffer taking care of him.
Maybe instead of supporting her mother, Alana should consider what if she was born disabled. Maybe she should worry that if so on her mother's whim, she could be next.
Maybe instead of supporting her mother, Alana should consider what if she was born disabled. Maybe she should worry that if so on her mother's whim, she could be next.
I thought that too.
This woman is very worrying: if this sort of thought permeates society (and it seems to be doing so) then what hope is there.
The message seems to be that if you have a child then you have the right to expect perfection and if that child doesn't live up to your expectations then murder is a legitimate answer. On AUT TV they showed a clip of the boy at 5 and he seemed like a very happy child: reminded me of my son at that age. My son is now nearly 10 so this whole thing has really disturbed me. I can't get the thought of the child struggling and fighting for his life whilst his mother smothered him, out of my head. I know how strong a child of that age is and can imagine how hard it must have been to kill him.
This woman should be still in prison, not on TV.
I also think the daughter is too young to fully understand all the ramifications of her mother's actions. Maybe she'll only understand properly if/when she has a child of her own.
Stories like these make me feel ill.. and the fact that the magazine showed this in a good light is just shameful.
A lot of judges are so out of touch with reality and the sentences they give are completely ludicrous!
And if it were shown that she were mentally ill when she killed her son, she should have been put in a mental ward and treated for the mental illness.
Sadly, he is not the only innocent autistic person who has been murdered in this way either.
I don't see how "don't judge her as a murderer" is a rational comment.
She murdered a child = she is a murderer?
Perhaps if she had felt unable to cope, had "snapped" and had given the child to be adopted by parents who felt more able to cope that would have been more appropriate?
Rossco, I read about this lady and her son and can agree that she didn't receive the help she needed. I understand she said she was having thoughts of ending it all and nobody would listen.
This is not an isolated instance and it is a real wonder to me that more people haven't done such things.
Before anybody gets offended, I am NOT saying for a moment that it was justified for this poor child to be murdered or any others but that it shows there is a wider social problem of parents with disabled children not receiving adequate support and assistance when they say they are not coping.
This attitude also extends to people with mental illnesses who may be sent home from hospitals when they report suicidal thoughts and then kill themselves. Maybe it is a funding problem but a lot more people need assistance than are able to access it.
It seems that there is some way to "manage" health professionals so as to elicit help but when one is in a desperate situation, it is hard to think straight and say "the right things".
Rossco, thanks. I can speak from a certain amount of experience, having had postnatal depression and getting told by doctors that I should "grow up" and it was "just life" and being doped up with medications.
This of course did nothing to address the issue that I felt as if I weren't coping.
I also agree that bullying is generally treated too softly, notwithstanding so called "zero tolerance policies" which I think are generally "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil" policies.
Maybe not in the UK, but in Australia, heaps of people have got lighter sentences because they were judged to be "mentally ill" at the time of the offence.
Quite often, the sentences for child killers here are ludicrously short (I'm not referring to instances of mental illness) but more in general terms.
Rossco, it would help if health professionals were better trained and more were employed so that they would recognise and act on cries for help more promptly before the worst happens.
There is also this stigma in our society about expressing suicidal or homicidal thoughts and all too often it is seen as emotional blackmail rather than the cry for help it is.
Yes, a few people might self-dramatise but generally speaking, most won't say these things lightly and it is better to err on the side of caution and believe them rather than treat with scepticism.
Hmm, not good. I hope your current doctor is more knowledgeable and open minded about depression than they are about autism.
Shame he says that "There is no such thing as Aspergers or HFA. We are all just a bit shy!" LOL
Rossco, so would it be right to say, your psychatrist is acting like a male ditz?
Sometimes, even when I've been obviously stressed out to the max, the doctor has not wanted to give me a certificate for more than a day off work and it means I've had to go back when not ready and then something worse happens, like a major meltdown and then I have to have a lot longer off. :evil: