Brilliant! Great response. My kid gets herself drawn into the why of others behavior or attitude towards her, usually blaming herself. The police will just need the facts of whats happening and how it has affected your daughter so they can act.
Really feel for you all mate. Wishing you all the best.
5 Likes
I’ve slept on this, and honestly I owe everybody who has contributed here on this issue a big thank you. It has been a difficult time and I’ve been racked with doubt as to whether we responded in the right way. The opportunity to talk through possible response methods here was very helpful.
Your fellowship helped me to keep my ability to think straight and even to walk down the street where my daughter lives with a smile. I don’t think we’re out of the woods yet, but getting this far is an encouraging sign.
Thank you everybody.
7 Likes
I got diagnosed a few years ago (in my early 40s) after suspecting for a while that something was out of whack. My 14 year old son got diagnosed last year. We tend to use the word ‘Aspergers’ rather then ‘autism’ in our house simply because it feels right for us. He’s been on the receiving end of bullying all through school due to him being a bit different, but his secondary school have been brilliant (especially when compared to his primary school). He’s traversing puberty with the knowledge he’s not a freak and with supportive and understanding parents, which is better than I got at his age 
Anyway, yes. There’s a lot of people on here who are blatantly on the spectrum. The chances of Sam not being one of My People is wafer thin - watching him being interviewed on RetroManCave really confirmed that. Fortunately he’s aware enough of that already 
5 Likes
When you get asked “Do you want to continue to press charges” that’s when you need to stop and think. By this point the purps will know they are in big trouble if things progress.
My eldest was bullied for years by the same pupil at primary, he opted to go to a different secondary to make a fresh start. Which he did admirably. The two randomly met in town one afternoon and my son was threatened, but it was on CCTV. When it came to it, we all decided NO not to press charges. We had no further problems and by some accounts the wake up call may just have been enough.
6 Likes
Sam has Dyslexia, like myshelf. ( and my eldest for that matter )
Rob
4 Likes
That reasoning makes a lot of sense to me. It’s particularly important because these people are her neighbours. It will be enough for them to know that the law is not toothless in the face of their behaviour.
But we haven’t got to that point yet. A crime has been reported and the investigation continues. Although the video evidence seems quite strong, I’m not going to second guess the result of the investigation.
3 Likes
If it were harassment you have the option to withdraw any complaint however a hate crime is a criminal offense. If the police have evidence they have to act. It’s up to the cps (crown prosecutors) to decide what to do next. Remember your daughter is the victim here, there may be others and there is no reason to stand by and let this continue. Let the police guide you and worry for you.
5 Likes
The adult social services people are finally getting involved again after being missing in action for months. They sent me a really contemptible note in April saying they were giving up. With everything else to do I hadn’t had the opportunity to let my anger subside from the heat of a thousand suns, down through incandescent, to a light simmering so I could write a decent (that is, not abusive and inflammatory) response pointing out they’re not supposed to do that.
Now they’re back. And it took her neighbours turning vigilante to get them to do that.
Tragic discussion today with a little girl who lives on the street. She approached me and wanted to know “why did you video us?” I said we were recording people harassing my daughter. She in turn was quite clear that they weren’t doing so, because “she screams all the time.” I was pointing out that this didn’t justify harassment when her mother told her she mustn’t talk to me.
4 Likes
I can’t pretend to know what you’re going through, but my thoughts have been with you. My daughter is autistic, diagnosed a couple of years ago at age 12. She’s highly functioning and when she first brought up the possibility that she may be autistic, I was in disbelief. She just seemed like a “normal” kid with anxieties to me. Turns out, that may be at least in part because I’m also on the spectrum without having realized it. For years, she and I have joked that we have “abilities”. I have resisted getting diagnosed at age 43. Partly because I’m uncomfortable having my self perception and identity messed with, but I’m coming around to accepting it. I want to say it’s because I don’t see a benefit, for me personally, to having a diagnosis, but that’s probably only a very small part of it to be honest.
6 Likes
I thought you had the Procurators Fiscal in Scotland instead. Same idea though.
I do see the reason for a distinction. A hate crime is one in which the animus affects the entire target community, in addition to the victim.
4 Likes
I found out when i discovered its not normal to go into a full on panic and have to sit in a dark quiet closet to calm down because a neighbor was blowing leaves, or a panic attack when someone wore corduroy pants at work.
It’s like: “Oh, well ok that makes sense actually”.
5 Likes
Aye, fiscals in Scotland. I said cps as your in the non Scots bit
2 Likes
For you and you all.
My best friend Ian.
He has described himself as the grand poo-bah of Aspergers.
As well as being one of the deadliest IT trouble shooters he’s also a professional Magician.
Here he is at a private show at the Magic Castle in Hollywood.
Enjoy
7 Likes
My daughter and I planned a day trip to Durham for today, to get away from the recent fuss. This is a twelve second clip of the trees by the riverside but it more or less encapsulates the entire experience. We enjoyed the chance to be away together having fun and not worrying about last weekend.
8 Likes
I live in Atlantic Canada and the Atlantic provinces have been pretty blessed in that we have some of the lowest amounts of cases in the country. It’s allowed for something called the “Atlantic Bubble”, so people from the provinces can freely travel between without having to quarantine. I moved to where I am now in December, so I haven’t really been able to see my friends and family for over half a year now, but one of my best pals is coming to visit tomorrow.
So far, things are going pretty well. I’ve started a new musical project with a buddy here and I’ve started a new gig as a pawnbroker, which is super neat and a lot of fun. All in all, I’m still interested to see what happens to the world, but I’ll always stay optimistic. Things are tough and they’re gonna get tougher, but there’s no choice but to keep trucking.
I hope you guys stay positive. Much love.
6 Likes
It’s nice down by the river, well it’s all nice, I like the market but I expect it’s closed.
1 Like
Been an up and down week, but I am very hardend through experince.
Thursday I got outline confirmation that a salery rise that should have been processed in April was going to be approved YAY!!
Thursday I got stopped by the FUZZ ( look it up as a UK term if out of UK 
) claiming I was using my phone whilst driving. I was flabbergasted, quite simply I DON’T . Felt sick as what do you do. The picture he produced as evidence was useless. At one point he said “If you tell me you did it, we can leave it at that” my response was “I can’t do that as that would be a lie and improper, I would be doing myself a disservice”… Eventualy he waved me off with a word of warning, Still upset as every day since I have seen idiots on their phones…
But Saturday… Instead of virtual PUB on zoom… 3 of us got together for a real pint, in a real pub, with real stinky toilets (well not that bad) . A shread of normality.
Spent saturday and sunday clearing the garage, making it tidyer, two full MPV loads of crap to the tip. Found some valuable car parts to sell.
Sold my Yamaha CS1X and Korg X5D… Now I have no Keybaord 
but I am working towords a MS-20 Mini… ( Would love one of the new full size ones but my jaw dropped when I saw the price)
After some setbacks with the Cheap Step Pro, I am getting back my MoJo with that and did some work on it last night.
Then Pulled a muscle in my shoulder that has set off pains in my arms, fingers, etc… it’s kind of normal for me but each time it happens it makes work and play not as easy… But hey that’s life.
Sun is shining, only 7 working days to my first holiday since october and winding down already
Rob
7 Likes
We were in the square at one point and my daughter did contemplate going into the market, but we decided even if it wasn’t closed we didn’t want to take the risk to our health.
Durham was busy though not obnoxiously so. Except for the signs and the masks you might have thought it was a normal summer day. We were a bit more considerate of oncoming people on the narrow parts of the river path, a courtesy which was always acknowledged with a thank you. It makes a lot of difference, that kind of small pleasantry, when you’ve been subject to some appalling behaviour.
Edit: in the square I couldn’t resist putting this YouTube video on. She said it sounded familiar, perhaps it was something we played to her when she was a child. She knows The Bonzo Dog Band quite well.
4 Likes
Oh we may have heard the term “Fuzz” in the UK sense…
You hear it in US 70’s cop dramas now and again too.
Oh yeah, there was one other image your description of the week conjures up:
https://i.makeagif.com/media/8-16-2016/Ccc8M4.gif
2 Likes
LOL, from one great film to another. I was just quoting the Suppository line to someone the other day.
2 Likes