Two recent cases involving abuse and neglect by caretakers of autistic and developmentally disabled persons underscore (to say the least) the great need for highly trained and carefully supervised aides for workers. My own son was improperly restrained using a basket hold in a previous school district so many times that he sometimes pretends that he is having a tantrum and wraps his arms around himself. There are ways to train workers in “crisis management” that emphasize the safety and calming of the autistic person with compassion and dignity.
Such practices were not the case in the death of Jonathan Carey on February 15 of this year. Edwin Tirado, who was convicted of second degree manslaughter in the 13-year-old’s death, was sentenced today to the maximum sentence for his crime, 5 to 15 years in prison. Jonathan had autism; died while on an outing with another child from the O.D. Heck Developmental Center in Schenectady, New York. WNYT reports:
Tirado crushed Jonathan using unapproved restraint as fellow O.D. Heck Developmental Center aide Nadeem Mall drove a van that was supposed to take Carey and another boy on a shopping trip.Investigators say Tirado knew Jonathan was unconscious and probably dying. But rather than seek immediate aid as they drove on Central Avenue or summon 911, the two men bought some video games and then wasted more time at a home before returning at the scheduled time to O.D. Heck and pretending the health emergency had just developed.
In the UK, a care home boss, Chris Williams, faces jail time after admitting that he went to a betting shop for three hours, while leaving three developmentally disabled adults locked in a car. According to the Telegraph:
Chris Williams, 43, and his employee Agnes Price, 41, left the three special needs patients in a “distressed state” and desperate to get out, a court heard.
The three men, aged 25, 45, and 56, are unable to speak and have learning difficulties, including Down’s syndrome and autism.
Both carers pleaded guilty to wilful neglect.
The court heard they were seen entering a bookmaker’s in Swindon on Sept 6 after parking their people carrier. Three hours later a member of the public called the police, saying three men were shut in a car and distressed.
Paula Mulherne, prosecuting, said the men were grabbing at the doors.
Williams and Price, who run the Whitman Street residential home, said they had “lost track of time”.
And was Williams supposed to be “working” in the time that he was at the betting shop?
Michael and Lisa Carey, Jonathan’s parents, were scolded in court by the judge for delivering victim impact statements:
The couple attacked the defense attorney and his legal strategy, which Mrs. Carey said was built on lies. They accused Tirado of absolutely no remorse. They also alledged prior abuse of Jonathan at a downstate state facility, failure to properly discipline Tirado for earlier infractions and a systematic cover-up of wrongdoing at state facilities.
The three men in the UK and Jonathan Carey were all not able to speak. I suspect there is a lot, a lot more that they could report or, in the case of Jonathan, that they could have.
all the training and education in the world was not going to change Michele Riley, and others like her, into a person who could “care” for people with developmental disabilities. As a former drug user and addict, she should not have been allowed to become the “carer” for Dixon nor as it seems her “representative payee” for Dixon’s soc sec check. The Western Central Ind Living Center seems like they really badly messed up here having such a person on their staff and presumably knew she was sharing “housing” with one of their clients. They should have kept a better watch on this “bad egg”. It looks like Riley used her job at the INd Living Ctr to find a victim. Also interesting and horrible is how the neighbors(Terri Brandt and Chet Hudson) heard the screams and saw Dixon naked but did nothing about it. Everyone looked the other way and let this situation get out of hand. And who are the fathers of all these children? Dixon’s unborn, her 1 year old son, and RIley’s two kids? WHen are we going to start saying that ABSENT fathers are the beginning of much of this escalation into violence?
Torture Death Shocks Illinois Town
http://tinyurl.com/3aykpk
ALTON, Ill. (AP) — Banished to the basement, the 29-year-old mother with a childlike mind and another baby on the way had little more than a thin rug and a mattress to call her own on the chilly concrete floor…(Dorothy) Dixon — six months pregnant — died after weeks of abuse. Police have charged two adults, three teenagers and a 12-year-old boy with murder in the case that has repulsed many in this Mississippi River town.
“This is heartbreaking,” police Lt. David Hayes said. “It was almost as though they were making fun of the abuse they were administering. This woman was almost like living in a prison….”
(No, in prison the inmates are treated better.)
“Investigators put much of the blame on Michelle Riley, 35, who they said befriended Dixon but pocketed monthly Social Security checks she got because of her developmental delays.
….(Michelle) Riley worked as a coordinator for a regional center that helps the developmentally disabled with housing and other services. Dixon was a client.”
Previous laudatory news story on Michelle Riley
http://tinyurl.com/2u72y5
“Michelle Riley considers herself one of the lucky ones.”…”Today, she is the home service coordinator for the WCICIL, helping people with disabilities get out of nursing homes and into their own residences”…
“Everything in life is a choice,” she said. “It’s a choice about what kind of life you want to live. It’s not somebody else’s fault, it’s not the government’s fault. You have to make the choices.”
(This is why the quality, the training and the background of those who work the developmentally disabled matters. This is exceptional, but there are more cases than I am comfortable with of those charged with the care of folks being those who take advantage of them. I thank those direct care and supporting service individuals who are ethical, professional and concerned with ethical treatment and dignity but also ask for their support in efforts to to rehabilitate the various support systems and to exclude or remove those individuals who might endanger the clients and indict the professional credibility of those who are doing the right thing).
Thanks for noting that, Kim—-certainly more than a few, and truly many, instructors and aides and other care works have made the difference in my son’s life.
What happened to Jonathan was a tradegy. But we can’t use the poor judgement of two staff as a based of how all direct care staff treat individuals with autism. There are many direct care workers amongst other workers that devote there lives (without pay) to these individuals. We try to promote normalization in there lives and treat them with dignity and respect.
5-15 years certainly does not seem fair.? Having worked in group homes with children we were taught and told to use various restraining techniques. The worst was strapping a little boy down to a tall wooden chair created just for the purpose and he screamed and spit and panicked. I look back and cringe. I wonder if they are still using those techniques? I hope not.