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Teachers Charged with Abuse and Hazing an Autistic Student

Lysholm

Negative Nancy
Nebraska, USA. Here's the article: https://omaha.com/news/state-and-regional/crime-and-courts/nebraska-city-teacher-2-aides-charged-with-child-abuse

TL;DR: Five teachers have been accused (three of them charged) with repeated physical and psychological abuse of an autistic teen with a heart disease and the mental development of a five year old. Those charged are middle-aged women, one having almost a thirty year teaching career.

The autistic teen was coming home often with bruises and wearing soiled pants. The parents placed a tape recorder on his person and recorded several encounters of verbal abuse, physical abuse, and even multiple teachers pelting him with dodge balls. He also has a heart disease and was forced to do physical activities he shouldn't have been doing with the condition.

The attorney for the main culprit is painting a picture of an angelic educator whose career has no other issues...which means she's been really good at getting away with this stuff.
 
That is profoundly sick and disturbing. I do not like what this says about our society that those teachers cannot have compassion. What would they think if that was a son of theirs?
 
Disgusting, twisted, and sick. Hope all the teachers involved in abusing this poor teenager get fired from their job.
 
I am so angry about this, however this does happen to all kinds of students. That's why l took my daughter out of school. But l feel especially sorry for this innocent child and the parent that had to equip their youngster with a recording device. That's pretty sad. Alot of teachers are protected, there are teacher shortages, and there are definitely teachers who take advantage of young people.
 
It was too much – I couldn’t even finish reading the article.

How do we handle this much sadness in the world? How do we go on as a human species when people hurt children like this? And like the countless stories on this forum where our own members were abused, neglected, and ridiculed by adults when they were small children.

Sometimes I want humans to go extinct.
 
It was too much – I couldn’t even finish reading the article.
Yeah, it took me a while to get through it. Most things I find to be unsurprising or unmoving, but this had me clutching my proverbial pearls.

Like, I can think back and build a genealogy of bad actions by teachers that negatively affected me and lead to where I am today, financially, socially, etc. For me, the terror in this article is not so much the direct abuse as it is the deceit and abuse of authority to hide their torture of this kid. And for what? Did these adults think he deserved it? That abusing him was reciprocity for them having to tolerate his existence? That their position granted them the right to judge what was just and fair treatment for "lesser" humans.

Nebraska still has the death penalty.
 
I'm confused.

The ones called teachers are obviously abusers, and the so-called paraprofessionals (who even made that term up?) are clearly unprofessionals.
 
I can't even read the article because the exact same thing has happened to me. I feel so sick.
I have little faith in humanity anymore, as if that wasn't already obvious from my other posts on here. I don't understand how some people can be so good and kind and loving, and others (most, in my opinion) can be so twisted and evil and sadistic.
And people wonder why I have an attitude and why I don't trust them and don't want to talk to them...
 
Yeah, it took me a while to get through it. Most things I find to be unsurprising or unmoving, but this had me clutching my proverbial pearls.

Like, I can think back and build a genealogy of bad actions by teachers that negatively affected me and lead to where I am today, financially, socially, etc. For me, the terror in this article is not so much the direct abuse as it is the deceit and abuse of authority to hide their torture of this kid. And for what? Did these adults think he deserved it? That abusing him was reciprocity for them having to tolerate his existence? That their position granted them the right to judge what was just and fair treatment for "lesser" humans.

Nebraska still has the death penalty.
This seems to be the thing that is overlooked, the abuse that this chil received will have or is likely to have a lasting influence over the rest of his life. Who knows how it will manifest.

I don't know if it's just me (but based on your post it appears I'm not alone), I can understand cause and effect. A leads to B leads to C and so on. I too can map out the events of my life and see how the actions of others influenced or outright lead to certain choices or outcomes.

It's not a hard concept to understand. If you wrap a car around a tree, even if it's repaired, your insurance company will record the damage and forever link it to that cars VIN number. It will affect the value of that vehicle for the rest of it's existence. Why? Because it is acknowledged that the car may never be the way it was when it left the factory. It may never have the structural integrity it once had. That will put off potential buyers.

It seems just about any functioning brain stem understands this, but when people are damaged in a way analogous to this, suddenly they can't understand cause and effect so readily.

I've encountered this attitude a lot. I'm not a dumb person, I had an IQ test result in the top 2 percent. I have learned many skills. I should have the ingredients to may me a high performer in society, at least if it's true we live in a meritocracy. But, I'm not. Why? Mostly due to self belief, self esteem, a mood disorder and as one psychologist has suggested CPTSD.

I think there are a lot of people in the world who are held back by the damage caused by others. The damage is often ignored, ridiculed or invalidated by people. This is justified in their view and an excuse not to build up or help that person overcome the damage others causes. The real scandalous thing is that there are people paid handsomely to help others but they don't. The attitude of said people is basically "solve you own problems loser!".

It is not an insignificant thing to have your formative years dominated by abuse. And so many people behave like it's a none issue. "Just suck it up" people say. But most of the time I'm exhausted from "sucking it up".

I see lots of posts on these forums and others from really genuinely bright wonderful people who are in real distress. They don't deserve to be, but they never seem to be helped the way they should be to have the belief in themselves that they should have.

It disgusts me that these "professionals" were in a position of explicit trust with a vulnerable person. Instead of providing safety and dignity for the kid, they took advantage of him for their own cruel entertainment. Like they didn't see them as human.

I don't believe in the death penalty, but people who damage others like this should be punished in a way that recognises the damage this eventually causes, not only to the individual, but also society.
 
I've encountered this attitude a lot. I'm not a dumb person, I had an IQ test result in the top 2 percent. I have learned many skills. I should have the ingredients to may me a high performer in society, at least if it's true we live in a meritocracy. But, I'm not. Why? Mostly due to self belief, self esteem, a mood disorder and as one psychologist has suggested CPTSD.
Rant time:
I took a college class that included a paid IQ test we were required to take. The teacher must have thought I was a r****d because they insisted my results must be wrong and told me to do it again. I did it twice more and the results were all similar. That teacher said she'd never had a student score that high before and she acted beside herself that I could be that smart on paper. So, I too theoretically should be super successful.

But I never got the confidence to put myself out there to capitalize on my skills and creativity. All my youth was filled with authority figures enforcing in my mind that I could never please them or do anything right. I simply had something wrong with me, I was damaged goods. So, I never believed that anything I had to offer society/employers actually held value, and I way undersold my time and labor because I was convinced I wasn't worth much.

Over time I've come to realize I bring an incredible amount of intelligence, drive, originality, and efficiency to any endeavor I'm part of. Tragically, I wasn't able to build a network and robust work history when I was younger simply because I didn't think I could do it. I always just assumed I wasn't welcome in productive, professional environments for specialists, because I had been convinced I was trash.

Nowadays I believe I could excel in any environment...but starting to pursue a specialization as an adult has a lot of complications. Foremost is the mindf**k that I'd only be half way through a career by retirement age, and I find this bothersome. But, moreso, my wife and I have built our lives around what we expected of the future, and many of these pillars of our existence are incompatible with a new direction. We bought an affordable house outside of the city, so my commute would be and hour and a half every day minimum. Our cars are older and may not last long commuting all the time, plus their appearance may not be accepted in the social environment of middle-class professionals. I don't own any professional attire and have no idea how to blend in with people who do. I'd have to remediate all of these things beforehand, which would take time and money, and all on a gamble. And, at the end of it all, I'd still have to beg employers to overlook my basic and unrelated work history. At this point I don't think I'd tolerate that kind of interrogation.

Worst of all is I've learned to accept a lot of things normal middle-class types will not tolerate. This leaves me open to exploitation by people and systems that I'm unfamiliar with, have no practice interacting with, and have no basis for recognizing fair treatment. I'm afraid I will be quickly identified as an interloper and never be treated as a peer, compensated fairly, or be able to identify opportunities that are obvious to most people.

Honestly, I feel society has ruined my chance of fitting into society. I'm doing my best to thrive on the fringes, but it's not terribly satisfying or particularly profitable and it's never consistent.
 
Rant time:
I took a college class that included a paid IQ test we were required to take. The teacher must have thought I was a r****d because they insisted my results must be wrong and told me to do it again. I did it twice more and the results were all similar. That teacher said she'd never had a student score that high before and she acted beside herself that I could be that smart on paper. So, I too theoretically should be super successful.

But I never got the confidence to put myself out there to capitalize on my skills and creativity. All my youth was filled with authority figures enforcing in my mind that I could never please them or do anything right. I simply had something wrong with me, I was damaged goods. So, I never believed that anything I had to offer society/employers actually held value, and I way undersold my time and labor because I was convinced I wasn't worth much.

Over time I've come to realize I bring an incredible amount of intelligence, drive, originality, and efficiency to any endeavor I'm part of. Tragically, I wasn't able to build a network and robust work history when I was younger simply because I didn't think I could do it. I always just assumed I wasn't welcome in productive, professional environments for specialists, because I had been convinced I was trash.

Nowadays I believe I could excel in any environment...but starting to pursue a specialization as an adult has a lot of complications. Foremost is the mindf**k that I'd only be half way through a career by retirement age, and I find this bothersome. But, moreso, my wife and I have built our lives around what we expected of the future, and many of these pillars of our existence are incompatible with a new direction. We bought an affordable house outside of the city, so my commute would be and hour and a half every day minimum. Our cars are older and may not last long commuting all the time, plus their appearance may not be accepted in the social environment of middle-class professionals. I don't own any professional attire and have no idea how to blend in with people who do. I'd have to remediate all of these things beforehand, which would take time and money, and all on a gamble. And, at the end of it all, I'd still have to beg employers to overlook my basic and unrelated work history. At this point I don't think I'd tolerate that kind of interrogation.

Worst of all is I've learned to accept a lot of things normal middle-class types will not tolerate. This leaves me open to exploitation by people and systems that I'm unfamiliar with, have no practice interacting with, and have no basis for recognizing fair treatment. I'm afraid I will be quickly identified as an interloper and never be treated as a peer, compensated fairly, or be able to identify opportunities that are obvious to most people.

Honestly, I feel society has ruined my chance of fitting into society. I'm doing my best to thrive on the fringes, but it's not terribly satisfying or particularly profitable and it's never consistent.
I'm so sorry @Lysholm. I and I'm sure many people here can relate to the things you talked about.

A lot of issues come down to assertiveness I think. If you are pushed down and made to feel like you are trash, the last thing you think of doing is being assertive and pursuing any opportunities. You learn to take your place last in line, never rock the boat.

I've been exploited by employers to the point of physical and mental illness. I accepted a standard that others wouldn't and people began to feel entitled to what amounted to most of my life. Special interests all out the window, and I'm sure plenty of people can relate to how detrimental that can be.

Whenever I have tried to "put my foot down" or lay down a boundary, I'm bulldozed by people who claim to be around to help me or support me. They don't like me getting ideas of my own.

Sorry, I'm getting into another diatribe again. But the way some human beings treat eachother really angers me some times, actually a lot. It's little wonder a lot of us feel like we are from a different planet.

I know it's hard not to become cynical, I'm probably too far down that road. But don't give up! Keep shooting for what you want in life. With your smarts, you probably have the ability to get there without having to follow the conventional routes. While all the clowns are fighting to get in the elevator, you can take the stairs. When you are used to hard climbs, it's your secret weapon. Plus you don't have to stop at every floor. Hope that makes some sense?
 
This is starting to spread on the news, tictoc, YouTube, etc.




You learn to take your place last in line, never rock the boat.
You know my biggest problem has always been standing up for myself, looking authority in the eye and demanding they justify themselves. Like, if they can give me a good enough reason I will FO. But, they hardly ever can give a reason - even for their leadership decisions. It took me a long time to understand most parents, teachers, cops, bosses, etc., too often use their power to dismiss peoples' issues so they have to do less work. I didn't get into real trouble doing this because I could always articulate myself - they knew I wasn't actually challenging their power, but they didn't know how to respond to, you know, logic. So, I got ignored and left out an awful lot, even when I needed direction.
 
This is starting to spread on the news, tictoc, YouTube, etc.





You know my biggest problem has always been standing up for myself, looking authority in the eye and demanding they justify themselves. Like, if they can give me a good enough reason I will FO. But, they hardly ever can give a reason - even for their leadership decisions. It took me a long time to understand most parents, teachers, cops, bosses, etc., too often use their power to dismiss peoples' issues so they have to do less work. I didn't get into real trouble doing this because I could always articulate myself - they knew I wasn't actually challenging their power, but they didn't know how to respond to, you know, logic. So, I got ignored and left out an awful lot, even when I needed direction.
Same here :-( Also I was told on one occasion as a kid that I was articulate, so that meant I was a good liar. The irony is that I have enough trouble convincing people of demonstrable truth, so lying seemed to be a good deal more effort and not worthwhile.

In the factory where I worked, my boss told me I was too honest. He meant it well, he was the best boss I've ever had.

The way I've been treated when I've even slightly challenged authority figures or asked questions is disgraceful. It's a case of they can shout and snarl at me, but "don't you dare even slightly raise your voice!".

Oh and then there's logic, no one likes logic, fortunately I found this forum where it seems logic is held in high regard! :)
 
I had a lot of bad experiences with teachers but I was always unable to back down. Possibly partly from my grandfather teaching me that Australians do not kow toh, he was a war veteran. So when I was bullied I bullied right back, most teachers are unable to handle a kid that is much smarter than them, unafraid of them, and correct.

Eventually in high school I got sent to see the student councilor, who turned out to be a paedophile. His interest deflated very quickly when I pushed his hand away and told him that fat old men just don't do it for me. I didn't report him for two reasons:

1: I was scared of who I might get served up to next.
2: As far as I was concerned the rest of the school deserved him.

I have little or no regard for authority or qualification. Life has proven to me that both are worthless and misleading. I respect people that deserve respect and treat others exactly as they treat me.
 
It took me a long time to understand most parents, teachers, cops, bosses, etc., too often use their power to dismiss peoples' issues so they have to do less work.
Enablers.

I had the same issue. If it wasn't for the enablers, I could have probably got the bullies to back down. I tried to stand up for myself, I politely explained that I wasn't doing anything wrong, even tried injecting a bit of good natured humour into the situation, but that just made them even more angry.

When I was targeted by teachers and I tried to stop it, they would just escalate by going to my parents and telling lies. When I was occasionally targeted at work as an adult by supervisors, I was better able to defend myself and get them to stop, but they would just go to the department manager and tell lies to get me in more made up trouble.

I think it's time people looked at holding enables more to account as well as the abusers themselves.
 

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