Waging War on the Autistic Child: The Arizona 5 and the Legacy of Baron von Munchausen by Wakefield Andrew J

Author:Wakefield, Andrew J. [Wakefield, Andrew J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781620873151
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing
Published: 2013-04-26T00:00:00+00:00

SOCIAL DEPRIVATION

In common with millions of other past and present citizens of the United States, the family lived in a rural setting. Strangely, Ms. Williams in her e-mail of May 23, 2010, seemed to feel it was significant that they had no neighbors. A vision of Deliverance, the sinister view of America’s backcountry in James Dickey’s 1972 screenplay, came to mind. Not only were they physically isolated, but, according to Ms. Williams, Dr. Stephens was of the opinion that “… [the children] have not been allowed to socialize with age-appropriate peers… .”

Dr. Stephens’ allegation is best dealt with in the mother’s words: “My children have never been kept isolated from others. Trisha [name] was our respite provider, and her children, [name] (12) and [name] (10), are close friends of my children. [Child 2] considers [name] her best friend. [Child 1] and [Child 2] spent overnights there, not for respite, but as friends. All of the children spent a decent amount of time there for respite, and Trisha has neighbor children that would come over and play with our children.”

[Child 1] has participated in Young Marines. That ended a few years ago when the group moved further away; it had been 45 minutes away and moved another half hour away. They met on a school night so the extra distance became problematic for homework and sleep. [Child 1] has played on a soccer team in the past, and participated in track and field and softball. He was on a swim team (the pool closed due to monetary problems). [Child 1] has been in youth groups in church. He participated in Awana, an international youth program, in the past. He has done other activities as well.

In the 12 months before CPS stole him, [Child 1] attended dance camp near Tyler, TX (June 2009). In fact, all of the children participated. [Child 5] was too young, but he was able to hang out with [Child 4] and [Child 3] as those two needed extra support in the program. In September, he began attending school in Chico, California. We were staying on a base there, and all of the other students in the school were on base. The base has an Olympic-sized swimming pool, hiking trails, basketball courts, etc. [Child 1] spent most of his free time with other kids, some his age, some older, some younger.

Then, in mid-November, we went to Fiji. [Child 1’s] second night there he attended a youth group with Uate (he is our “adopted” son, he calls us Mum and Dad). We lived Fijian, so we were in the middle of Fijian people all of the time. [Child 1] spent time with other teens, and we were there with another family (they have three boys).

We came back to the States on Jan 12, spent a few days in Chico where he reconnected with his friends there, and then our family went on a bit of an explore. We traveled to Oregon, then down the Oregon and California coasts, coming home by way of Nevada (visited family).

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