Boy, it never ends! And, maybe I’m wearing everyone out with my complaints and need to apologize and move into the background; but I’m rarely given a breather from one situation into the next. I’m putting out fires all the time, it seems.
iBrattleboro has given me all the therapy I seem to need to find the strength to keep rising up like a mother lioness and I am so grateful for the support I have found here. Lise and Chris ought to be able to bill my insurance in this case!
In trying to deal with my outrage and anger, I tried traditional “therapy” and if it could have been put in this forum format, I wonder how many people would have been as dazed looking as I was, if someone had posted along the same veined response I got in seeking some support, privately? To quote: “what I’m wondering is what kinds of things you might enjoy doing”.
Point being; what I enjoy doing has utterly nothing to do with what I MUST do - bring my son home and back into a level of reality that he can trust. I have not asked for any help in trying to come up with a nice little hobby in the interim. Isn’t my endeavor a bit too important, after-all, or should I really be knitting sweaters or out snapping a few pictures?
My son called me last weekend, very much bothered, confused and embarrassed about a film crew and entourage of onlookers who toured his unit, unannounced. I’m not certain why, but from what rumor I can learn, it was a professional training film for law enforcement wannabe’s. His distain for having to endure an intrusion on his need for “space” (a big deal for many with autism disorders - they all barged into his cell ) and his complete sensitivity for being stared at by the group who toured, all of them within his peer group, age related range (the peer group is the most uncomfortable for him to interact with; he knows he’s different) is a huge deal for him and one for which he rightly filed a grievance.
Within the DOC directives, he is allowed to make a grievance, but it stops there until the response is delivered, and that’s supposed to happen within 48 hours. Guess what. No one has responded yet. Guess what; it means no other grievance can be filed until it’s responded to without satisfactory results. Guess what; it takes months to correct these types of nasty little events, and in the end, most of them are not corrected.
The tour groups, from what I hear, also include kids who have been court ordered for programs such as “scared straight” - these groups like to giggle and stare, too.
Another group, as reported in the Burlington free press, are people who want to “get into” law enforcement, so they get the tour, too.
All well and good, except for a couple of things; my son’s “special needs” unit has been described to these tour groups as being full of “sex offenders and other serious criminals”, his image has been captured for the purpose of classroom training, and he is beside himself to not have any consideration given to his treatment-less efforts at coping with his Autism disorder (all by himself) - I have to dictate what the “special need” is, which I have done repeatedly over the years, and then hope they will accommodate the need as I describe it.
The next generation of law enforce could recognize my son from a video, recall a description that they were viewing a "sex offender or other serious criminal" and then tase him, shoot him, or come up with some other knee jerk and henious response to any encounter they might have with him once he's released, whether in two years (his max date) or next week.
My son was wrongfully allowed to plead guilty for his “crimes” - thanks to the local therapeutic community, we had nothing but one incorrect diagnosis after another (and even then, not allowed to present it to the judge). This was done under the threat that his crime carried a seven year sentence by the “gift” of plea bargaining, but promised to be much greater if we lost a trial.
His subsequent diagnosis seems meaningless and not terribly important since it seemed to appear out of nowhere and not until he was given his final violation along with claims by the DOC that “we can’t supervise this kid” - so he sits in prison and the show goes on - only now, it’s a freak show and my son is the subject.
To me this shows an incredible indifference and adds another layer to “cruel and unusual” in his case, at least. And, if the DOC tells me they are NOT indifferent, then the only other word I can use to describe what kinds of activity they endorse as exploitation of those who suffer with other disorders or illnesses in the non-treatment, “non-corrective” arena of the Vermont Department of Corrections.
What else could it possibly be?