We need to talk about autistic death.

⚠️ Content Warning: violence, including genocide, filicide, and police brutality.

I have been seeing people discussing the story of the autistic boy who was killed by his mother, but when I google ‘autistic kid killed,’ Dylan Freedman’s story wasn’t even on the first page of google results. In fact, when I first heard people discussing a mother killing their autistic child, I thought they were discussing a case that happened several years ago. There are so many heartbreaking stories of autistic death that are not getting the attention they deserve. Two of the stories that appeared in my google search were about children who wandered off end ended up dead. There was also a story about an autistic teen who died in a house fire started by a domestic violence dispute (1). There are too many stories for me to give each one the attention it deserves, but I’m going to talk a few that stood out to me, and what these stories mean in a broader cultural context.

One of the stories that showed up several times was the story of nine-year-old Alejandro Ripley. Alejandro was killed by his mother in May of 2020 (all of the stories I am discussing have occurred this year, to give you some perspective on the scope of the problem). Patricia Ripley drowned Alejandro in a lake before making up a story that he was abducted. Several hours before, Patricia Ripley had pushed her son into a canal, but he was rescued by a bystander. Patricia admitted to detectives that she pushed Alejandro into the water (2), but will plead not guilty (3). Pleading not guilty, in conjunction with a confession, sets up the prospect for an ugly trial filled with hateful and ableist legal arguments. I recommend you all go read source 2, because the journalists spoke with many people who knew Alejandro and discussed the great loss that occurred, whereas many of the news articles I read focused on the challenges the victims faced, as opposed to their strengths.

When I sought out the story of Dylan Freeman, I was very disappointed with the coverage. There was not a lot of information about who Dylan was, and I know there are privacy concerns when discussing the life of a 10-year-old, but every article I read spent more time talking about Dylan’s ‘celebrity’ father than they did about Dylan. A Daily Mail article (4) particularly bothered me because it included a long interview with a neighbor who sympathized with Dylan’s murderous mother. The best article (still not great) I found was a local news story, so if you want the basic facts on what happened, check out source 5. I know I’m not the first person to criticizes the Daily Mail, and many autistic activists have already explained why it is horrific to portray the murderer as the victim (I could rant for days about the harm that true crime does to our society, but I will control myself), but I need to say these things for myself. Disabled people are not a burden. Our lives have value. There is no excuse for killing someone you are caring for.

Another story of an autistic person being murdered that has not gotten enough attention is the story of Iyad Halaq. Iyad was an autistic Palestinian man who was murdered by Israeli security forces at the end of May. He was walking to school when he was approached by the security forces. Iyad, who was semi-verbal, was scared by the police and ran away. They shot him twice and killed him (6). I care deeply about Palestinian rights and police reform. This story broke me.

Palestinians stood in solidarity with Black Live Matter; we must stand in solidarity with Palestine.

Retrieved from the BBC, source 6.

It is clear that police in the US must change. Lately, the tasks police are being asked to perform are more akin to social work, but the way we view police, and the way police view themselves, has not changed. While the US is no longer considered a global leader in human rights, we need to set a good example for how disabled people are treated by the justice system. When US police kill unarmed disabled people and gas peaceful protesters, it undermines our credibility when we tell Israel to stop doing the same things. The current actions of American police de facto condone the actions of Israeli security forces.

I know that I have presented you with a lot of depressing information, but now I’m going to give you a way to make a difference. Matthew Rushin and Osime Brown are both black autistic men who have been wrongfully imprisoned. They are both receiving inadequate medical treatment in prison. Take a minute to call and demand their release. I know phone calls are hard for autistic people, but all you have to do is dial the number and when you get a person or voicemail say “Please free [Name].” Calls like this get marked down and if there are enough calls the request is passed on to the elected official.

Sources:

1. St Louis Post- Dispatch: “Family mourns teen who died in Florissant fire” by Kim Bell.
2. 7 News Miami: “Community mourns death of boy with autism allegedly killed by mother” by Alex Browning and Marisela Burgos.
3. Miami Herald: “Miami mother accused of drowning her 9-year-old autistic son in a canal pleads not guilty” by David Ovalle.
4. The Daily Mail: “Mother charged with murdering her autistic son, 10, is pictured arriving at court as her ex-husband the Celebrity photographer Dean Freeman pays tribute to his ‘beautiful and ‘bright’ boy” by Dan Sales, Vivek Chaudhry, Mark Duell, and George Odling.
5. Sky News: “Boy, 10, allegedly killed by mother was found with parts of sponge in his throat, court hears” author unspecified.
6. BBC News: “Autistic Palestinian shot by Israeli police buried amid revenge call” author unspecified.