from disabilityscoop.com/2012/07/13/against-3-weeks-desert/16016/

A 28-year-old with autism was found alive after three weeks in the Utah desert where he sustained by eating roots and frogs.

Rescuers said Thursday that William LeFever was emaciated when they discovered him by the Escalante River, but alive.

The Colorado man was apparently hiking near Boulder, Utah in June when his equipment was stolen. LeFever called his father who said he would wire money to the young man in Page, Ariz. Rather than find a ride, officials said LeFever began walking and trekked some 70 miles.

LeFever’s sister alerted authorities Monday after the family hadn’t heard from him in weeks.

Once discovered, rescuers said that LeFever was so eager for human contact that it was difficult to get him to stop talking long enough to eat something.

Authorities credited autism training at least in part for helping them locate LeFever. One of the rescuers suggested searching near the river because he learned that those with autism are often drawn to water, reports The Salt Lake Tribune.


Really? Autistics are drawn to water? Who would've thought?!?
I guess it goes without saying that if an NT (neurotypical, a.k.a. normal person) was stranded in the wilderness, they wouldn't need to find the nearest source of water because it's not like normal people NEED WATER TO STAY ALIVE!!

*deep breath*

To quote someone else who commented on this article (I encourage anyone to read the rest of the article, it's really funny; but kind of depressing.
),

"The problem is that autistic people are considered so exotic and mysterious that you can say pretty much anything about autism in a news article and get away with it. "

I am just SO sick of this sort of thing happening.

or this sort of thing:
abajournal.com/news/article/voted_out_of_kingergarten_by_classmates_autistic_boy_5_gets_350k_settlement/

or this:
articles.cnn.com/2010-07-22/justice/texas.autistic.children.killed_1_autistic-children-operator-signs-of-physical-abuse?_s=PM:CRIME

Or f*ck1ng idiots like this
wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Wakefield
Thinking that they can comment about autism because they have some f*ck1ng college degree.

[/rant]

Well he was smart since he knew which frogs and roots to eat, not the poisonous ones.  

More likely he got lost sometimes after phoning his father.  Depends on whether he was using a cell phone or a pay phone.  Most likely a pay phone would be close to a road.  

The shock of getting my belongings stolen might cause me to get distracted and lost even in a city.  But he was hiking alone in a remote area so you have to wonder how wise that was.  He was probably afraid to hitch hike.  What would you have done?

It really makes no difference that the man had autism.    I am happy that he was rescued.

Mixed emotions here.

Glad he's alive.

Pissed off that, what? I've never heard that one before, ever. At least it's not as ridiculous as claiming that you can die from having autism, which I will say happened.

Just remember that for every stupid claim you hear, there is always another one out there that is even more stupid.

This post was last modified: 10-03-2012 06:14 PM by Some_Bloke.

Drawn to water?  Perhaps some are, but many others refuse to sit in the bathtub as children.  Too much sensory onslaught, I guess.  

I don't understand how the man's autism plays into the story at all.  It could have been a typical guy who got jumped and lost in the wilderness.

Has anyone considered that the reason that he was near water was that he needed to DRINK it?

It makes sense for anyone who's lost to find a water course and follow it.

Many people who are autistic are drawn to water, often gazing at it as it flows.  As it happens, it worked put for the best as they did find him near water.

Perhaps he had some tips from watching "Survivor Man" or "Man vs. Wild".  Well, he's probably going to have to be treated for parasites.

The part of being autistic (or on the spectrum) is irrelevant.  He probably gravitated towards seemingly most viable option.

The only way I could think of autism being relevant in this story is to ask the question:  WHY was his equipment stolen?  Did his autistic tendencies mark him as vulnerable and an easy target?  Somebody less likely to fight back or get recourse?  Somebody who is less likely to have support on his side?

This post was last modified: 10-03-2012 08:15 PM by kevout2.

@ OP

well try to get over it

Why get that upset


I thought it was a great story and showed perserverance on the young mans part

Try getting my son out of the bathtub - he will literally stay in there for hours until the water is freezing cold and his legs have cramped up and he cannot even stand up.

In almost every story I see on the news like this with a child surviving in the woods/desert/wherever, the child is autistic. Why? Is it because autism makes better news or autistic people to a certain level of functioning are better at surviving in the wilderness?

Maybe people on the ASD are better at survival in the wilderness than an NT is...... :/

Maybe autistic people are more likely to wander off and get lost in the first place.

Or maybe his caretakers got tired of him and left him there.

No he was out camping, so obviously he could take care of himself, but when SAR found him they said they were able to b/c they had received "training" that said that autistics were attracted to water when they should've been looking near water anyway because the only way ANYONE would've survived that long would be to find the nearest water source! But, "who can fathom the mind of an autistic?" So anyone claiming to have a shred of credibility can say whatever the f*ck they want and no one's the wiser!

THAT'S what pisses me off.

and this isn't a kid we're talking about. This was a full grown man who KNEW what he was doing. If you're in the wilderness, you're away from overstimulation, social situations, and all the other $h1t that makes us seem handicapped. If anything, we're BETTER equipped to survive in the wild because we can concentrate and have the ingenuity that would SERVE you if you had to fend for yourself. So why is it amazing that he was able to survive? The answer, of course, is that the population and media has been convinced that AUTISM = RETARDATION. And as long as that belief remains widespread, *****y *** stories such as this will remain in the media.