“Autism” Bully Sentenced

9 January 2008- Seattle, WA, USA Mark Joe Levison, 48, was sentenced to the four months already served, ordered to attend treatment, and a one-year suspended sentence after pleading guilty to charges of malicious harassment and attempted malicious harassment.THe case stemmed from verbal tirades against a 13-year-old boy with autism who was his neighbor.

Guilty plea in torture case

28 November 2008 – Dakota County, MN, USA According to the Pioneer Press, Natasha Dahn, 16, plead guilty to two-counts of kidnapping, third degree assault, and aggravated burglary, in connection with the torture of Justin Hamilton, 24, who has a developmental disability.

Recent Crimes against People with Disabilities: October

Here is a brief listing of some of the news stories from October 2008 in which violence against people with disabilities played a part and that weren’t previously covered by icad. This is far from a complete list, but it shows the wide range of incidents that fall under this general category.

Minnesota Torture of a Vulnerable Adult

15 October 2008 – Dakota County, MN, USA Four men have been arrested in connection with allegations of two days of torture of 24-year-old man with mental disabilities and fetal alcohol syndrome. Allegations suggest that the victim was lured from his home and taken to a remote Dakota County location where he was “savagely beaten,” burned with cigarette lighters, tied to a motorcycle and dragged or 200 feet, and left unconscious.

Recent Crime News: Cerebral Palsy

The following are some recent stories in the news about crimes against children and adults with cerebral palsy:

24 September 2008 – North Wales, UK Joanne Hill, mother of 4-year-old Naomi Hill, who had mild cerebral palsy, began her Life-term prison sentence for the murder of her daughter.

Autism: Recent toll of violence

Children and adults with autism are identified as alleged victims in a number of recent cases of abuse and violence. Sadly, the cases listed here are only a a sample of some of the recent news reports:

Hate Crimes…BBC Broadcast

BBC Radio 4 ran an excellent show on Hate Crimes against people with disabilities this week. Here is a summary and link to listen to the show.

Paddling and Disability

Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union have released their report, A Violent Education: Corporal Punishment of Children in US Public Schools, detailing the nature and extent of corporal punishment in U.S. schools. Based on official reports for the 2006-2007 school year, 223,190 students received corporal punishment at least once, although the researchers suggest that actual numbers are much higher, because many cases go unreported.

Tropic Thunder Blunder

11 August 2008 – Tim Shriver, Chair of the Special Olympics and Washington Post Columnist, devoted today’s commentary to the controversy about Tropic Thunder. If anyone is not already familiar with this controversy see previous icad post of the Arc Press Release for basic information. Shriver’s comments, however, are worth noting because he does an excellent job tying the issues presented in the movie to the marginalization, bullying, deathmaking, and other harms suffered by people with intellectual disabilities.

Pacer Center Anti-Bullying Resources

11 August 2008- Minneapolis, MN, USA Minnesota’s PACER Centre provides training and informational resources for families of children and youth with disabilities. The Centre has been involved in many programs to address abuse and has a number of anti-bullying resources with a particular emphasis on addressing bullying of children with disabilities.

Sinn Fein on Bullying

10 August 2008 – Northern Ireland Over the last year Sinn Fein has raised the issue of Bullying people children and young people with disabilities in the Legislative Assembly of Northern Ireland.

Bullying people with disabilities

30 July 2008 The recent stir caused by the Google Video showing classmates bullying a classmate with a developmental disability (described as autism in some news stories and Down syndrome in others) is one small episode in the growing recognition of bullying and harassment in the lives of children, youth, and adults with disabilities. Here is a very small sample of other related material:

Google Italy investigated for bullying video

29 July 2008 – Italy Italian prosecutors indicate that they are in the late stages of an investigation that could result in charges against executives of Google Italy.