Autistic Patient Suffers Abuse at Service Organization

Rachel Decker
The Paw Print

It’s a mother’s worst nightmare to discover her son being threatened and abused, and for Kathy Coleman, that nightmare came true. When her 31-year-old autistic son Cameron started developing mysterious bruises, she began to grow worried. Cameron was unable to tell her how he was gaining the bruises; he has the mental capacity of a three-year-old.
As the injuries continued to appear, Coleman also noticed Cameron showing fear towards his caretakers from Jay Nolan Community Services, an organization put together to assist mentally disabled patients. When she brought her concerns to the management, she was rejected, so she stepped up and installed hidden cameras around her son’s home.
Her worst fears were realized when she saw the footage of her son being beaten, threatened, and humiliated by his caretakers. The cameras revealed different caretakers kicking Cameron in the face, beating him with chains, and shouting abuse at him. One caretaker even went as far as to spit on Cameron and point a pellet gun in his face.
When confronted with the evidence, the managers of Jay Nolan immediately went to Cameron’s house to destroy the cameras, and therefore the evidence.
“I want to pay anything… to make it stop, but I couldn’t. It’s already passed. I put my son in Jay Nolan thinking he’d be protected…,” said Kathy Coleman, who was devastated to see the way her son had been treated. She finds it even more unbelievable that Jay Nolan would attempt to remove the evidence.
“We understand that incidents are being reported that certain conduct fell below the high standards we hold. Any such claim is taken very seriously… JNCS is currently working to review our procedures to ensure we meet the high continuing standards we set,” Jay Nolan stated in regards to the incident with the Colemans.
Many who have heard of the abuse cannot believe the company’s dismissal of the situation. “This scares me to death,” says Colleen Myers, a mother of a young autistic boy. “[My son] has limited verbal ability. I am always terrified when I leave him with others for this exact reason. Abuse of individuals with autism is rampant. I simply do not understand people, and how they can treat others so horribly.”
Unfortunately, abuse towards those suffering from autism is more prevalent than many would believe, and it is often a crime that goes unreported.
“Many of those suffering from autism do not have the ability to vocalize what happens to them,” says Serena Glasbow, a therapist specializing in autism studies. “They can be beaten, insulted, hurt, degraded… and they cannot say anything. It breaks my heart, truly, hearing about things such as this. They’ve done nothing wrong, nothing at all, and they receive horrible treatment.”
Though the initial outcry of support for the Colemans is touching, many believe that this will not change much. Abuse such as this happens daily, and though coming together after an attack is heartwarming, unless action is taken to prevent the abuse, it will be a never-ending cycle with ongoing victims.
“I want things to change, but I don’t think they will,” says Glasbow. “Until we see some major changes in our culture towards people with special needs, I don’t foresee the situation improving.”
Cameron has since been removed from the care of Jay Nolan and taken back to his mother’s home to be cared for. The case will eventually be brought to court, and though it will be satisfying to see justice brought to Cameron’s attackers, the damage has already been done.
“It breaks my heart. My son doesn’t know why this has happened to him,” says Coleman. “I cannot believe one human being… would attack a disabled person. I ask God, is there any way I can bring back the time and make this stop? But I cannot. It has been done, and there is nothing I can do to take back what has been done to my son.”