Children with Disabilities being abused in schools

Remember when I talked about a young boy named Akian? He was being bullied by his teachers? Do you remember me talking about the abuse of children with disabilities at the Judge Rotenberg Education Center (JRC)?

Here are the links to those to entries:

http://csullivanwatchtower.blogspot.com/2012/04/teachers-bully-kids-with-special-needs.html

http://csullivanwatchtower.blogspot.com/2012/06/occupy-jrc.html

I feel stupid; I had originally thought these two stories were isolated incidents. Unfortunately, they are not isolated incidents, and with that being said, I feel I need to speak up about this. All of this, every single story I have heard is very disturbing, and I’ve heard so many stories, it’s unbelievable! The amount of abuse I have heard about in the past year is horrifying. What’s scary is that the schools try to cover it up. I will show you a couple of the stories I have found. Please note: The stories may be hard to read.

Here, Jacob Garcia, a 7 year old student with special needs, was abused by the principal and a security guard. He was found on the side of the street where they had found him. They violently assaulted the child and took him back to school where they restrained him using Velcro straps. They claimed that Jacob tried to commit suicide by jumping in front of traffic. All he was trying to do was to go home in the middle of the day, there’s no excuse for assaulting the kid and restraining him. Besides, this begs the question, how did he get out of the school unnoticed anyways? I know a school for kids with disabilities, some do wander, and I know they have locks on the doors so they won’t get out of the school unnoticed, so I don’t see how this could have happened unless they were just not paying attention.

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/education/special-needs-student-abused-les-principal-guard-suit-article-1.1325745

There is a school for children with disabilities, Katy ISD's Exley Elementary School. The children that attend there have severe disabilities and have been emotionally and physically abused. There was one teacher that was terminated. There were a couple of teachers who were charged, but the charges were dropped. There was one child who tried to commit suicide because he was scared. He wasn’t scared of the students; he was scared of the teachers! He was scared of the very people who were supposed to protect him, teach him, and not abuse him!

http://www.myfoxhouston.com/story/23273114/2013/08/27/children-with-disabilities-tortured-in-katy-isd-elementary

Here’s something else that’s very troubling about this. Some of the students are non-verbal and are unable to talk about what happened to them. Some of the students are able to talk but are afraid to talk. These teachers are bullies and there should be no tolerance for any kind of bullying. Not only that, these teachers are supposed to be professionals and I have to say, abusing their students are far from professionals. These stories I’ve shown and the stories I’ve talked about before don’t even begin to scratch the surface. Here is an article that lists the schools that have a history of abusing children with disabilities.

http://www.examiner.com/article/does-your-school-have-a-secret-history-of-abusing-disabled-children-find-out-here

I have seen a Facebook page suggesting that we should put video cameras in the classrooms. I actually think it’s a great idea, considering how many schools actually have a history of abuse towards children with disabilities. Here is the Facebook page I am referring to

https://www.facebook.com/CamerasInSpecialNeedsClassrooms?ref=stream

And there is a page suggesting that we put video cameras on school buses.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Cameras-In-All-School-Buses/209187065875403?fref=pb&hc_location=profile_browser

Schools are supposed to be a safe place, but unfortunately, there are schools where students are not only bullied by students, but their own teachers as well. Should we have video cameras in classrooms and school buses? I think so. 

Until next time, God Bless. 

- Chloe

On abuse and neglect towards people with disabilities...

It is far too often that I come across a story where someone with a disability is abused and neglected. It’s unbelievable! I have found stories of parents or caretakers abusing and neglecting children and adults with disabilities. Warning: The stories I am sharing may be hard for some people to read.

Here is a story about how 36 year old Sakinah was tied to a bed, naked, in her caretaker’s home. She was found with sores all over her body and was very thin. Sakinah has Schizophrenia and a mental capacity of a 10 year old.

http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news%2Flocal&id=9209804

Here is a story about a young woman who had been left in a hot car by her mother. Her name is Rebecca and she has Cerebral Palsy and cannot communicate. She weighed only 55 pounds.

http://wreg.com/2013/08/21/disabled-woman-left-in-hot-car-weighs-55-pounds/

These stories are still developing, but I hope that both stories end with a happy ending. Unfortunately, there are some cases that end in tragedy. For instance, a little girl named Aliyah was born with several disabilities and her mother neglected to provide for her needs. Not only that, child services had failed to protect this young girl before she was killed by her mother. Here is a link to the story, but again, a warning that this may be hard for some of you to read.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2397606/Florida-mother-Chelsea-Huggett-killed-disabled-daughter-Aliyah-Marie-Branum-2.html

Abuse, in general, is very disturbing. I have never understood why people would abuse another person. There is another story I have recently heard about. The ignorance of this one person is so thick; you could cut it with a knife. There was a family who received a letter that targeted a teenager with Autism. His name is Max. A woman who claimed to be a mother living in the neighborhood sent Max’s grandmother a hate-filled letter telling her to either move or euthanize the teen. Police are saying that this is not a hate crime. If this is not a hate crime, then I don’t know what is. This is a hate crime! I am providing a link to the story so you can see for yourself. The link also includes a copy of the letter. Warning: There are some very strong words said in the letter, including the R-Word.

http://www.680news.com/2013/08/20/letter-targeting-autistic-teen-not-a-hate-crime-police/

I think we all need to try to understand these people that have disabilities instead of being so judgmental. They did not ask for these disabilities. They deal with them the best they can. They need our love, our patience, our support. They don’t need people telling them that they’re worthless. Here’s a newsflash for you, they are not worthless! I also think we need to protect those with disabilities, so they won’t be abused, neglected, or murdered by those that are supposed to care for them. 

I hope that we can get some justice for these people.

Until next time, God Bless

- Chloe