As it was the weekend we thought it might be nice to cheer up Verity with a quick trip to Toys R Us while Herbie had his afternoon nap under the watchful eye of his nan. The trip went as expected and she found the two Wonder Pets soft toys she had been looking for to bolster her collection to 3 x Ming Mings, 2 x Linnys and 2 x Tucks. Of course, I don’t expect you to understand the workings of the Wonder Pets and the characters.
While we were choosing a suitable soft toy for Herbie a family descended upon us and before we knew what was happening a large child (probably 11 or 12) had grabbed Verity by the arm and was using her as some kind of cantilever to lean forward into the soft toy display.
The Missus disengaged his grip while I tried to move my child out of the skirmish. She spoke to the father who replied with a pathetic excuse for his child’s obnoxious behaviour, which bordered on common assault on Verity:
“He’s autistic.”
I kept my reply simple and short: “Well you should keep him under control.”
As I shuffled away, shielding Verity from the sudden air of unpleasantness, I didn’t notice that the child had pulled Verity’s hat off or the father telling me curtly to “Fuck off!”. Thankfully, I was out of earshot otherwise the incident would have turned very bloody, very quickly.
I am sick of pathetic excuses. I am sure that there are plenty of parents out there with autistic children who do not use their condition as a reason for them to indulge in bad, threatening behaviour. This fellow should be grateful that they weren’t born fifty or hundred years earlier in a time where his “special” child would have been locked away in an asylum for their own protection and the protection of the public.
But hey, we live in enlightened times, don’t we? Whoopee-fucking-doo! Don’t it make you feel proud?
Nope…