Someone wrote a letter to their neighbor telling them to euthanize their autistic son. You never cease to amaze me, world.
Semi-related note. My former roommate and I were talking, and the subject of Autism came up. He started talking about a family he used to sit for, who had an Autistic Kid. He described how the kid "is making a slow recovery from it as he gets older. He might even be cured of it, but he can still name all the US Presidents." Confused, I asked a few questions, and started explaining how the kid sounds more like he had Aspergers, but was not Autistic, and was learning the methods behind socialization as he got older. He responded that, since "he worked with Autistic Kids first hand, he probably has a better idea than I do."
I made a point of not talking about how I was trained formally to work with children with rough family backgrounds, disabilities, and abnormal psychological conditions such as Aspergers. I also didn't talk about how my cousin and brother, and at least 1-2 of my friends, are diagnosed (or are very likely to be) high-functioning. Instead, I wanted to hear him talk more about all the things he knew.
He went on to describe the boy in detail. He used words such as "really stupid, sometimes", "retarded", and "idiot savant". He explained how "though it sounds really bad to say" you have to "treat them the same way you'd treat a Pet." He then went on to share an anecdote about how he got sick of eating at the boy's ritual lunchtime restaurant, and forced them to go get Bacon Cheeseburgers at Wendy's instead, which the boy hated. He considered forcing the kid to eat it his personal triumph, as a caretaker. "See, you've just got to be firm with them and break their habits, like with an animal. That's the only way to really get through to them."
I... okay. I know he is a good person. He's offered me help when I really needed it, and though he is insensitive and misinformed, he generally means well. But he is so wrong. And so sure of himself in his wrongness. There was no diplomatic way to get through to him, so I agreed to disagree.
It took a while, but I'm starting to really, honestly resent him.