What happened next that evening in May 2021 is the basis for a lawsuit by the mother alleging that Burlington police used excessive force and discriminated against her unarmed son, who is Black and has behavioral and intellectual disabilities.
After he failed to hand over the last of the stolen e-cigarettes, two officers physically forced him to do so, then Cathy Austrian’s son was handcuffed and pinned to the ground as he screamed and struggled, according to a civil lawsuit filed Tuesday and police body-camera video shared with The Associated Press by the American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont.
The teen eventually was injected with a ketamine, a sedative, then taken to a hospital, according to the lawsuit and video.
This is a minor problem compared to the fucking forced ketamin injections but can we please use more words to describe these types of issues. Like, specific ones. “Behavioral issues and intellectual disabilities” has also been used to describe the kid that almost beat a teacher to death for saying he shouldn’t have his Nintendo in school and the flying guy that tried to kill the judge. If there is no difference between how we describe them and this kid, we are just reinventing calling people removed in increasingly elaborate ways.
I see your point, but that is a bigger can of worms than I think you are expecting. There are dozens of genetic or congenital disorders that can lead to intellectual disabilities and hundreds of acquired ones; all of which result in a range of severity. Also, “intellectual disabilities” and “behavioral problems” are very large buckets of different manifestations. In order to differentiate in the way that you are asking for, they would need to report exact diagnoses and give a detailed description of the individual to differentiate them, and even then, there would need to be a lot of context and clarification if they are to avoid misinterpretation or misunderstanding of any terms or descriptions used.
I’m not saying it’s easy. When I say specific I just mean more specific than the huge bucket we currently have. Maybe 5 buckets so that this kid doesn’t need to share a bucket with the Nintendo kid i mentioned.
Describing specific issues would violate their right to privacy.
I’m sure there is some middle ground we can find. His mother is named in the article and his actions were explained in depth so I don’t see a problem with being a bit more specific with what caused the behaviour. Especially when the phrase is also used to describe quite violent people.
I have to wonder why you want a clearer picture of what the boy was suffering from, 'cause from my vantage point it seems it’s only to satisfy your own curiosity rather than solve a larger issue.
Imo it’s none of our business what his diagnoses was as he was the victim here.
If it’s not relevant they dont need to bring it up. If it is relevant I would like to know what way it is relevant. I am fine with either but not both.
Don’t forget that the reason I want there to be more detail is because they used the expression as an excuse for that guy that jumped the judge. A guy that was articulate and friendly right up until he turned feral. I think it is doing this kid a disservice to put these two very different people under the same vague header. It’s what they did with the r-slur and it’s why it’s considered a slur today.
Again, in this particular instance he was the victim.
Blanket rules in revealing diagnoses do not take into account individual’s right to privacy. I prefer to respect that right vs your request to know.
I don’t know why “a bit more specific” is being read as reveal his medical history.
Because being specific is a breach of privacy. It’s really none of our business unless ofc one is a busybody.
I guess we will have to let “behavioral issues and mental disabilities” just become the new removed. There is nothing to be done about it because I would hate to be a busy body.