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Cary's avatar

Mostly just a rant, but A.V.'s story made me ranty.

Thanks for posting this. I'm not a parent, but the US education system is so broken, this information is crucial for parents of autistic kids.

The US prison system just makes and then hardens criminals, be they autistic or not. I'd be hard pressed not to laugh in the face of anyone who claimed otherwise. 'Corrections' is a cruel joke of a euphimism.

Mixing the dysfunctional law enforcement and prison system with the equally dysfunction and reality-denying education system... well, what could go wrong? Eleven-year-olds being cuffed and held on bail, apparently.

It's a sad state of affairs that you felt this article needed to be written.

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Hollis is a Nerd's avatar

Thank you for reading Cary. It is shocking and, not surprising at the same time. Our criminal legal system is, and always has been, a way to punish and hide “undesirables.” We incarcerate people with intellectual and learning disabilities, brain injuries, black and brown skin, and mental health diagnoses, disproportionately. We start identifying these people as children….

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Cary's avatar

You're welcome!

It's chilling. One thing's for sure, if I were in the US and had a kid or kids, I'd damn sure home-school them, regardless of neurodivergence, disabilities, etc.

And the US's mostly-privatized prison system is, of course, strongly incentivized to keep people in as long as possible — or do what they can to make sure the end up back in.

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