Alex Ong, 25, pushes elderly lady off the bus

[iRabbit]

aurorin:

Perhaps I can share some info on ASD...

As ASD covers a spectrum, there are those who are mildly affected as well as those who are more severe. Often ASD presents co-morbidly with some form of intellectual disability but not all individuals with ASD are intellectually challenged. There are very high functioning individuals with average or above average, even superior IQ, and have less impaired receptive and expressive language skills. A term associated to this form of ASD is Aspergers syndrome but some will argue that we shouldn't put Aspergers under the autism umbrella. Another form of ASD which gets a lot of media attention are the autistic savants, individuals highly impaired by their Autism but have remarkable splinter skills in particular areas (e.g. Drawing, music, numbers, computing etc)...

Purely because ASD is such a broad spectrum, and intellectual impairment has many different degrees, when u combine the two, there is a myriad of presentations for people who are diagnosed with Autism. It makes diagnosis and intervention more complex and require expertise and experience to do that... That said, we do understand Autism in terms of certain traits and characteristics and their unique learning style to develop fairly successful intervention programs across the spectrum which needs to be individualized. In the field, the metaphor for Autism is being akin to a form of \"culture\" that requires understanding rather than seeing is as an \"illness\"....

Hope that provide more info for those who are interested...

Thanks auroin. Quite cheem. But I think I roughly get what you mean.

[zadrian]

Lavina:

ImMeeMee:

All that is asked of our community is to be kind towards this group of people whose actions sometimes could be beyond them.

Same request from me.

At that agitated moment, he may have forgotten all the social behaviour he had been taught and may even temporily see the old lady as an object he wanted to remove.

Hope we can all forgive him and let him learn from his mistake and move on.

I do take a \"Nazi\" look at people like this.....they are neither normal nor sick, at least what they admit to be before things happen.
Sadly IMHO, they should not be allowed freedom without guidance. May times prevent is better than being victimized.

How can a person be normal enough to enjoy freedom and be threat to society yet be sick when they are performing acts of destruction ?

Did he feel sorry or did he needed someone to tell him to \"feel\" sorry ?

[Pen88n]

Much as I sympathise with Alex's condition, I can't help feeling that he still need to be monitored, esp. since he has a tendency toward impulsive act.


Just want to share an incident of such \"violence\". When DD was young (about 4 years old), she was playing in a clinic and there was an autistic teenage girl sitting next to us. I scolded DD for being \"naughty\" as she was climbing and running around the place. The next thing I knew the girl took an umbrella and hit my DD on her head :yikes: . Her explanation was \"naughty must beat\" :scared: and DD burst out crying. As a mum, I was really in shock and yet not know how to react as I knew she was autistic and not her fault. However, her caregiver wasn't even around to stop her and my DD ended up a victim :mad: . We actually ended up moving away instead of confronting her and her caregiver came back later to bring her away. DD suffered with a bruise on her forehead for a few days

After that incident, I am more wary when I see people who acted strangly or have special needs and would keep my distance. Not that I have anything against them, but I really do not want me or my family to become an unnecessary victim.

[zadrian]

http://www.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews/Crime/Story/A1Story20120620-354171.html


Mentally unstable man bludgeons uncle to death, crushes aunt with TV.....
Wats the diff ? Just another time bomb.....

[phtthp]

zadrian:

Wats the diff ? Just another time bomb.....

maybe this man has mental problem.

But autistic is NOT mental. They are different. Pls don't get confused.
can any medical health authority professional kindly help clarify this fact ? TIA.

[zadrian]

phtthp:

zadrian:

Wats the diff ? Just another time bomb.....

maybe this man has mental problem.

But autistic is NOT mental. They are different. Pls don't get confused.
can any medical health authority professional kindly help clarify this fact ? TIA.

Autism is a disorder of neural development characterized by impaired social interaction and communication, and by restricted and repetitive behavior.
- Taken from Wiki, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autism

So it is OK for a person to go around pushing people off buses ?
- If a person waiting for MRT train to stop, push her onto the tracks ?
- If old person unsure of steps before stepping onto escalator, push her down the escalators ?
- If a person at a traffic junction with green man blinking and do not want to cross, bash him up ?

Like that we can also claim serial murderers, serial rapist, robbers and probably politicians to have Autism ?
- They usually have impaired social interaction and communication; being loners, too friendly, speaking out of turn or have extreme social lives.
- Repeats their actions, or have the tenancy and desire to repeat.

Sick in the head is sick in the head....
I stay near Pathlight in AMK, I have never seen or heard of the kids pushing or hitting one for no reason. They may talk loudly or become excited...but never violent.

[atutor2001]

zadrian:

....

I stay near Pathlight in AMK, I have never seen or heard of the kids pushing or hitting one for no reason. They may talk loudly or become excited...but never violent.

Many kids in Pathlight comes from quite OK families with resources. Their parents are aware of the problem and intervened at a very early stage. In fact most of the kids are very well behaved. However, at Minds (another organisation for autism), the autistic people there behave totally differently because most of them are from families who have little knowledge nor do they have finance/resources to teach their kids. Some are already grown-ups and when they become unhappy, it can be quite scary.

I feel that public education and awareness could have prevented this unfortunate event. Autistic people who are independent enough to travel alone, are usually taught the basic social behaviour and will not become physically violent if not further provoke. If only that poor old lady could recognise that Alex was not speaking like a normal person and ignored him, I don't think he would have pushed her. However, for people with schizo, they may continue with their violent act even if we leave them alone.

I am no expert but just sharing my limited exposure with autistic people.

[Ichigokun]

atutor2001:

zadrian:

....

I stay near Pathlight in AMK, I have never seen or heard of the kids pushing or hitting one for no reason. They may talk loudly or become excited...but never violent.

Many kids in Pathlight comes from quite OK families with resources. Their parents are aware of the problem and intervened at a very early stage. In fact most of the kids are very well behaved. However, at Minds (another organisation for autism), the autistic people there behave totally differently because most of them are from families who have little knowledge nor do they have finance/resources to teach their kids. Some are already grown-ups and when they become unhappy, it can be quite scary.

I feel that public education and awareness could have prevented this unfortunate event. Autistic people who are independent enough to travel alone, are usually taught the basic social behaviour and will not become physically violent if not further provoke. If only that poor old lady could recognise that Alex was not speaking like a normal person and ignored him, I don't think he would have pushed her. However, for people with schizo, they may continue with their violent act even if we leave them alone.

I am no expert but just sharing my limited exposure with autistic people.

In Yishun, there is this Rainbow Centre for autistic children. I always see their teachers bringing them to wander about in Northpoint Shopping Centre.

The teachers teach them how to buy things from other people and not be shy (like most autistic people are)

These teachers are dedicated Honestly, if you were to ask me to slowly coach the children how to buy things I will faint :faint: