It appears that the family of Jared Guinther, an 18-year-old from Oregon, was trying to get him released from the army, which recruited him in spite of the fact that he is autistic.
Guinther, who rarely speaks, "wasn’t even aware of the war in Iraq
until a recruiter enlisted him last fall to be a calvary scout, the
Army’s most dangerous job". Guinther’s mother tried to intervene, but
the recruiter told her that he himself was dyslexic and that Jared
"doesn’t need mommy to make his decisions for him".
Here is further information.
I have mixed feelings about this and would like to know more of the details. None of us can tell whether this particular autistic person was unable to understand the commitment he was making, and I don’t think that all people with autism should be banned from holding jobs (it would be very bad for NASA and for engineering and math departments!).
Perhaps the recruiter made an inappropriate choice and took advantage of this young man, or perhaps the parents are against the war in Iraq (I believe that the article said that they were) and simply don’t want any of their children in the military. It’s hard to tell from a newspaper article, but I don’t like the idea of a blanket ban on anyone diagnosed with autism serving in the military. What about ‘autism spectrum’ in general? The definition of that which is used in some school systems can be so vague that more than half of us would have a heck of a time disproving such a diagnosis, if we were once labelled that way.
From what I know, lying about minor things isn’t an unreasonable or even unhonorable thing to do. The one standard they don’t seem to have let slip is medical. I’ve read/heard about many seemingly arbitrary/stupid decisions. Of course, there’s a chicken and egg problem here – do the docs disqualify minor ailments because they assume you’re lying and it’s really worse, or do people have to lie about minor ailments because the docs are paranoid, arbitrary, and foolish?
And the government, even the Army, is a huge bureaucracy of course. There are myriad rules to weave oneself in and around, and lying over something that is considered the equivalent of regulatory jaywalking is no big thing. In such instances it is not considered lying per se, but simply finding a way around “the system.”
And it’s been alluded to already, but obviously the kid does not fit the typical profile of autistic as the Army wouldn’t even want him, especially for a scout. Anyone that was obviously incapacitated wouldn’t make it through training, and failed recruits actually ding the recruiter’s personal record.
So the kid might be unfit for service, but it’s not as if they were trying to sign up the “Rain Man” character.
Thomas Sowell has probably been the most well known voice speaking out against the artificial rise of autism, particularly in California. Anyone interested could look up some of his material on the matter.
I try to suspend my stereotypes on my occasional visits to the real world but I had a chance encounter with an army recruiter on campus last week. He was an absolutely clueless braying jackass. I have to say I was delighted–he’s not going to have much success with our students.
What ever happened to respect for parents. If a kid is autistic, trust the parents and allow them to release him. Those who think a parent wants a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder is either not a parent or a very poor example of one. Someone who knows.
Am I missing something…?
It is obvious the Army was on pretty thin ice from the very beginning…
Is the implication of the title of this posting that there are a huge number of gay men out there who want to volunteer for combat in Iraq, but are needlessly prevented by archaic rules, and therefore the Army must sweep in autistics? That’s awfully naive, statistically speaking.
“.. lying over something that is considered the equivalent of regulatory jaywalking is no big thing. In such instances it is not considered lying per se, but simply finding a way around ‘the system.’”
What?
The things you’re supposed to report, you’re supposed to report for a reason. Entering the military with autism, or a slipped disc, or a history of using LSD, significantly increases the already rather high odds of hurting oneself or someone else. It’s terrible to encourage people to lie about such things.
Mike spoke about parents potentially *wanting* their children diagnosed autistic as “a response of parents and special ed personel to the massive increase in money available to special ed”.
As the parent of an autistic child, I have to ask: what state, city, or planet is _increasing_ money for special ed? Here in Southern California, money for special ed has been consistently *decreasing* for several years. My son is taught by aides who get paid a lower wage even than teachers, and those aides are supervised by a handful of teachers, for the simple reason that there is less and less money available to pay good people to work with these kids. In fact, they’ve had to deal with massive turnover rates lately, because it’s an extremely stressful job, and you get paid next-to-nothing for it. And this is in California, which is, after all, a pretty liberal state!
Believe you me, there’s no massive increase visible here. And even if there were, I’d happily ditch the “increased” resources for having a child who didn’t have to deal with the delays, difficulties, and unhappiness that my son does.
When I went through my military medical exam (a few months back), it was impressed upon me in no uncertain terms NOT TO LIE. And they said repeatedly, many times, that if you lie, and if you’re caught, you WILL be dishonorably discharged, and you will not be able to get any job other than burger flipping. I think that this claim above that recruiters tell people to lie is b.s.
Hi this is your conchance again and I just wanted to say that you are doing a horrible job in school and that you need to step your game up cause if you don’t then it will be going all down hill and you will be a freshman again and all of your frinds will be in a higher grade then you so be carefull in skool and don’t be know fool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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