A 13-year-old boy with Asperger’s Syndrome—a form of autism that often causes difficulty with social interaction—spent 11 days in the subway system last month. In a heartbreaking Times article, Francisco Hernandez Jr. tells how he took refuge in the subway for over a week because he got in trouble in class and “didn’t want anyone to scream at me” at home. He says nobody spoke to him the entire time he rode the trains, and when the reporter asked him if he “saw any larger meaning in that,” Hernandez replied, “Nobody really cares about the world and about people.”
via gothamist.com
You have to wonder how much of it was the abject fear adults have of dealing with children at all. Lately, if an adult so much as looks at a child incorrectly, they’re called a pedophile. Hell, some parks and children’s museums are closed to adults entirely and you aren’t even allowed to enter if you don’t have a kid in tow.
I know this is a sad story and I shouldn’t be pontificating on it, but I have to wonder how much society is to blame for stories like this.
I reckon a ton.