Today there was a news article about a 7 year old autistic boy who went missing from his school during the school day. This was during a snowstorm, and he was found shivering and soaked in the middle of a busy traffic intersection by good neighborhood samaritans - and wearing just a thin t-shirt.
The school of course insisted that the child had been missing a mere 2-3 minutes, though investigations show him having walked through a patch of woods and being outside for over 35 minutes.
There had already been a plan in place as this autistic kid frequently eloped (a term used for kids who wander away). The police and parents were to be informed but neither happened. The good samaritans saw a kid darting about in traffic, stopped the traffic, rescued him, took him home and wrapped him in blankets.
Unfortunately the school district missing an autistic child during the school day is more common that you would think. As is the practice of gaslighting parents on the details (fear of being sued!!). The fear of being sued apparently more critically important than any safety concerns of disabled children.
When I was younger (~grade 3-4) I was in a classroom simply known as Room 20 in Dilworth Elementary. An autistic kid in my class did go missing for several hours. The school went into a lockdown as they searched for him. We were all asked to come indoors and stay inside.
Later that afternoon, an old man who lived a few streets away returned the kid as he had found him wandering around.
Of course, there was a lot of discussion in the class that day between the teacher and the classroom aides about how to downplay or not report this incident to the parents at all. I don't know the end result of how much the parents were told, but those overheard conversations about how to avoid revealing the truth about a missing child to its parents by educators are deeply disturbing.
How can we autistics fully put our trust and faith in an education system if we don't believe educators (the ones supposed to nurture and help us) will only will watch their own back and not your back.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJBoKDEUJy4
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