Note: When will the public health community cry for a cure for autism to prevent these non-stop deaths by wandering and drowning? This is its own epidemic. Children who are drawn to water, can not speak, have no defensive, self-preservation skills are dying. I don't have stats, but I would would venture that more children have died from autism related wandering than measles in the last decade. (Let's start looking for that info.) The body of Maddox Ritch was (may have been) found. I hate how USA Today says he "RAN OFF FROM HIS FATHER," as if the boy was a naughty little imp. "Well, he RAN OFF, what do you expect?" Our kids bolt. Wander. Run. Meander. Explore. And they are as quiet as the drowning itself when they do so. Our hearts go out to this family. I've lost my girls. ALL THREE OF THEM. Gianna wandered away from a get together and went into a neighbor's house (we hadn't met) and jumped on their guest bed. Mia was lost at a 2200 acre Marriott in Orlando when she slipped out of an adjoining room hotel suite. Bella walked out the front door when I had failed to lock the screen for 1 minute having gotten Mia off the bus. She lumbered up the street toward the HIGHWAY that is across from my neighborhood. I saw her from my kitchen window and raced outside, running toward her screaming, "STOP BELLA PLEASE!!!" And she did not. She went right into the street at the exit. We are NOT BAD PARENTS. We are human.Oh, and get your flu shot. The world is very dangerously diseased.
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GASTONIA, N.C. — Search crews found a body Thursday that they believe to be a 6-year-old autistic boy who ran off from his father at a park, police said.
The body was found around 1 p.m. ET Thursday about 4 miles from the park where Maddox Ritch of Gastonia last was seen, according to a statement from police in this city about 25 miles west of Charlotte, North Carolina. The North Carolina Office of the Chief Medical Examiner will make the determination on the identity of the remains.
Maddox ran off Saturday as he, his father and a friend were walking along a paved trail in Rankin Lake Park, said the boy's father, Ian Ritch. Maddox had disappeared before his dad could catch up to him.
Both parents went before the media this week to plead for any information that would lead to the discovery of Maddox. On Wednesday, Ritch appeared on national television and at a news conference to repeat the pleas. Read more at USA Today.
The TV news covered this story today... and didn't mention the kid's autism. Doing a heck of a job, media.
Posted by: arawn | September 29, 2018 at 01:00 PM
Another tragic story about a child with autism who drowned. There have been so many sad stories like this one that it makes my heart ache and my stomach churn. Again I say we need the money to help researchers from all over the world to find a cure for the devastating condition of autism NOW. We have the technology so let's help the researchers find the answers for a CURE.
Posted by: Gayle | September 29, 2018 at 11:59 AM
Kim, I know you were being completely sarcastic saying "Oh, get your flu shot" but naive readers not knowing your sense of humor could actually take you litterally.
Otherwise, radio flu vaccine promos are currently literally lying about "80,000 flu deaths last year in the U.S." -- while urging the public to get (neurotoxic) vaccinations.
Posted by: David m burd | September 29, 2018 at 06:59 AM
The median age of DEATH for kids on the Spectrum is age 36. That's it. Do you want to know why? One of the reasons is because children wander away in search of listening waters-then drown. Sorry Maddox. Your brain became INFLAMED by the Poisons in Vaccines-Aluminum in particular which also creates Alzheimer's Disease in older folks. Mercury/thimerosal, tumorigenic aborted fetal cell DNA (Capable of gender-bending), Cancer promoting FORMALDEHYDE & Glyphosate, Animal & Insect cells and more. This man made, Doctor made ILLNESS must stop! Who is going to take care of our country when more than the 54% of children become chronically ill as they are now? That number is significant and is already outdated. Does anyone have the current numbers?
Posted by: Shelley Tzorfas | September 28, 2018 at 01:26 PM
When I listened to a TV news report about this missing boy a few nights ago, it was not mentioned that he had autism and was non-verbal until the very end of the 2-3 minute clip. Instead, they just kept referring to him as a missing 6 year old boy, and then showed searchers in dumpsters looking for him. They were purposefully downplaying the young boy’s Autism and the primary role it played in this boy going missing. There is something sinister in that, and in how USA Today worded its story, too.
Posted by: Laura Hayes | September 28, 2018 at 10:21 AM
Interested to know the neurodiversity take on elopement? Check out Jonathan Mitchell's post regarding Samantha Crane, an activist in the ND movement and a member of the IACC. http://autismgadfly.blogspot.com/ Mr. Mitchell also quotes Ari Ne'eman. In one article Ari Ne'eman even stated one reason that children elope may be due to physical and sexual abuse from their parents and service providers.
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Tweet from Samantha Crane
(((Sam Crane)))
@Samanticka
Replying to @__INSA__ and 2 others
Yeah the term often is used to problematize behavior that's completely reasonable from our perspective - people put us in situations that are intolerable, then call it "elopement" when we try to leave.
3:21 PM - Sep 11, 2018
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See (((Sam Crane)))'s other Tweets
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Guess the autism "community" really has our back. This makes me so angry. My son has eloped twice...once on a hike when he saw something interesting he wanted to pursue. It took hours - and a search by park rangers - to find him. Another time was at an amusement park when he wanted to find the water attractions. Once again, hours to find him.
Posted by: Aimee Doyle | September 28, 2018 at 09:13 AM
Heart breaking event all too familiar with parents and care-takers of autistic .. "children who are
drawn to water, cannot speak, have no defensive or self-preservation/awareness skills".
Unfortunately, this little angel of an innocent child .. except for his bereaved loving family .. will have lived his life and died .. becoming just another "statistic" .. among the hundreds of thousands of innocent angels that were fated to live and die as he did.
While this child's death has received the media's attention for at least a few "news cycles" .. which will soon be forgotten .. unlike the long and lingering attention the media gives any outbreak of measles .. which will be noted time and time again .. whenever it suits the "herd protection" narrative the media profits from.
Posted by: bob moffit | September 28, 2018 at 07:03 AM