Thursday, August 07, 2008

Severely Autistic Man Left in Hot Van For 90 Minutes

A 26 year old severely autistic man was left in a hot van for 90 minutes while a day camp supervisor ordered fries in a bowling alley restaurant in Collier County, Florida. The supervisor's excuse?

"She says she never received training from the county relating to her position working with special needs campers."

At least one person is reported to have reminded the "supervisor" that there was a person in the van but she ordered her fries anyway.

A county official offered another beauty of an explanation:

"Everybody makes mistakes. We don't think this was a deliberate mistake. Everybody makes mistakes," Camden Smith, spokesperson for Collier County Parks and Rec, said.

What kind of training is necessary to tell people not to leave people with disabilities ... or children ... in hot vehicles? How credible is the "mistake" explanation if someone did remind the supervisor that the autistic man was still in the van?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

This kind of behaviour makes me absolutely terrified of the type of people that are out there responsible for our disabled citizens! She should have been reprimanded. He could have died because of her ignorance.

Dawn