From the Minneapolis Star-Tribune:

A Minnesota church’s efforts to bar a severely autistic 13-year-old boy from its Roman Catholic mass, saying he’s a danger to others, illustrates the difficulties that surface when institutions and parents of autistic children intersect. As the number of children diagnosed with autism climbs, it’s likely disputes over disruptive vs. dangerous behavior will also flare.

… Minneapolis attorney Joe Schmitt, who has represented employers and businesses in disability cases, pointed out that under federal law there’s a legal distinction between distracting and dangerous.

“Is he doing something in the church that we think is annoying or that we would prefer not be done in church? That is not the standard,” he said. “You can’t exclude someone from that public entity merely because you don’t like what they’re doing.”

The church filed a temporary restraining order barring a couple from bringing their 225-pound son to church, alleging that he struck a child during mass, fought efforts to restrain him, pulled a teenaged girl onto his lap and revved the engine of someone else’s car.

The story is among the most-viewed items on the newspaper’s website.

See also:

• Priest bans autistic boy from church, by the Associated Press/ABC News, with video and more than 400 comments; and
• After warning, family of autistic teen attends different church, in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, with 70 comments.

Earlier post here.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 20th, 2008 at 7:37 am and is filed under NOT2BEMISSED, autism, behavior, criminal justice, law. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.  Email This Post