National Council on Severe Autism

11/15/2025

Legal Analysis: The Blatant Rights Violations in Tennessee's Arrest of an Autistic Child

In recent days, the story of a five-year-old with autism charged with assault in TN has garnered many different opinions. In this analysis, Cristina Gaudio, NCSA Legal and Policy Fellow, dissects the situation, bringing light to the implications of what all of this could mean for the autism community.

By: Cristina Gaudio, NCSA Legal and Policy Fellow This week, records obtained in Tennessee showed the prosecution of a 5-year-old boy with autism. Documents show that the Sumner County District Attorney's Office and juvenile court had previously declined to prosecute the case, swiftly dismissing in

11/15/2025

Whenever we talk about cameras in group homes, someone always asks: How do we balance safety with privacy?

The truth, backed by facts, is straightforward: Cameras save lives. And concerns about privacy are often overstated and misplaced.

Here’s what’s at stake:
Some residents, especially those with severe autism, can’t speak out, can’t identify their abusers, and can’t testify against them. Without cameras, predators know they can do anything—harm and exploit the most vulnerable without consequences. Every day, these unseen dangers destroy lives.

And the privacy concerns?
Since 2018, there hasn’t been a single report in NJ where camera footage was used to help abuse, neglect, or exploit a group home resident.* Check it yourself—look into other states and settings like nursing homes. The evidence is clear: cameras protect, not threaten, privacy.

Why are fears about privacy misplaced?
Living in a group home shouldn’t mean sacrificing safety or privacy. There are countless ways residents’ privacy is already at risk—other residents (and their guests) as well as staff listening in, snooping around, invading personal space. Legally installed cameras are actually a critical tool to fight back against those threats, keeping everyone safer and actually preserving genuine privacy.

We’ve said it before, and we’ll keep shouting it from the rooftops: Cameras save lives. And protect actual privacy.

Because behind every statistic is a person—someone who’s counting on us to do everything we can to protect them.

JOIN NCSA-NJ today -- it's free -- and help us protect NJ's most viulnerable. Ncsa-nj.org

*Source: Ombudsmn’s Office*

National Council on Severe Autism Profound Autism Alliance Safety Special Interest Group Autism New JerseyMikie SherrillAutism Science FoundationNJ Ombudsman for Individuals with Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities@followersNew Jersey Association of Community Providers - NJACP

11/14/2025

RE: the 5 year-old with autism who faces assault charges.

From the opinion article:

“A five-year-old boy with autism, who faces assault charges for his classroom behavior, reveals a glaring systemic failure on three fronts — by his school, the juvenile justice system and state law.”

“But state law and the juvenile justice system didn’t just fail this child. His school, charged with protecting him and by extension, his classmates, failed him too.”

“Not only did the school resource officer write the boy up, the parents said H.B. Williams suspended him twice before those reported incidents.”

“If that’s true, then the school likely violated federal law under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. That law ensures that a student with a disability and an IEP (or Individualized Education Program) is entitled to a review, which ensures that they are being protected from disciplinary actions that could be the result of their disability.”

“That’s not just bad judgment—it flies in the face of disability law.”

“Whether intentional or not, it reveals an institution’s reflex of penalizing disability rather than according proper due process that the law and children with disabilities require.”

A 5-year-old with autism who was recently brought up on assault charges, was failed by the very systems that should've ensured his welfare.

11/12/2025

5-year-old with autism charged with assault after outbursts at Sumner County school.

Excerpt:

The boy’s parents said their son's tendency toward physical aggression is nothing new.

They placed in him several months of intensive therapy to get him ready for school. They were told by the experts they worked with that he was ready for a traditional classroom, with the proper support in place. Documents show the boy had an individualized education plan, or IEP, in place. However, the plan lacked full-time one-on-one support for the boy when school began.

When school started, the boy's parents quickly became aware their son was having outbursts and acting out physically.

"It's pretty evident that nobody read the IEP or the assessments that he had," the boy's dad said. "They weren't prepared at all, and they seemed so surprised by this behavior."

—————-
But when prosecutors declined to press charges, instead of other parents filing a private prosecution against the school for failing this student and others, they filed criminal private prosecution charges against the FIVE YEAR OLD WITH AUTISM!

Preach “acceptance” all you want. Parents of children with severe forms of autism know the pain all too well of systems that fail and judgment by society.

This is why we raise however “unpopular” it might be to those who just want to celebrate “special abilities.” These behaviors are common SYMPTOMS of the DISABILITY of severe forms of autism. They need support and services, not criminal charges and stigmatizing.

A Sumner County kindergartener with autism is facing assault charges after outbursts at school, leaving his parents shaken and full of questions.

11/10/2025

Opposing autism “cure research” in reality means rejecting studies like this that aim to lessen self-injury, violent meltdowns, and other life-threatening behaviors. It is one more example of how autism advocacy has become a place where nuance goes to die.

From the article:

“The great mystery with repetitive behaviors is that individuals differ so much in both risk and severity, even when they grow up in the same environment and share the same genetics,” adds Garner, professor of comparative medicine, Stanford Medicine.

“This mystery also gives us hope that repetitive behaviors might be preventable or curable. That’s why this work is such an exciting breakthrough, it gives us so many clues to follow, and a whole new technological approach to do so.”

A new study shows that oxidative stress—an imbalance between damaging molecules and antioxidants—may contribute to repetitive behaviors observed in mice, similar to those seen in autism spectrum disorder and schizophrenia.

11/08/2025

Families of children with autism say cuts to provider reimbursements are hurting their daughters and sons.

From the article:

“Families of children with autism in lawsuit against NCDHHS contend it did not need to cut reimbursement rates for providers.

A judge temporarily paused the cuts until at least Monday.

The issue over how much to pay providers for services rendered to patients draws back to this summer in the General Assembly.”

Families using Medicaid services for their children with autism said rate cuts would have negatively impacted their growth and development.

11/05/2025

www.cureSYNGAP1.org/NotMyDaughter

CURE SYNGAP1 Advocacy Director Jackie Kancir shares from her personal blog her passion for her daughter and how hard her journey for appropriate care and consideration has been. "The gap between (the system's) rhetoric and our reality is the true crisis."



Renee

11/01/2025

Here is a big ole Halloween bucket of truth about autism, written by Cristina Gaudio, NCSA Legal & Policy Fellow.

“This is autism after dark, the scary kind that doesn’t make it onto Instagram, that no “awareness month” campaign will feature.”

Thank you Cristina!

By: Cristina Gaudio, NCSA Legal & Policy Fellow I am one of the luckiest women on earth. Not because I am rich or famous (because I am not), but because in my work, I have the privilege of hearing the stories of autism families and the opportunity to make a real difference. In recent weeks

10/30/2025

What an incredibly important piece to read. We’ve been watching personality traits turned into “disorders” like autism and ADHD for years. It’s now common to hear people say after a diagnosis, “No wonder I felt different,” or “It helps me understand myself better.”

This article is speaking on Gen Z but this phenomenon is seen across all generations.

A diagnosis of a disability or disorder is not about labeling who you are. It is about proving what support you need. The system was built to determine eligibility for services, funding, and legal protections. Self-understanding can be meaningful, but the purpose of a diagnosis is to open doors and protections, not to define you.

When people who merely feel “different” begin shaping disability research and policy, the result is erasure of those with genuine disabilities.

From the article:

“We have lost the sentimental ways we used to describe people. Now you are always late to things not because you are lovably forgetful, not because you are scattered and interesting and secretly loved for never arriving on time, but because of ADHD. You are shy and stare at your feet when people talk to you not because you are your mother’s child, not because you are gentle and sweet and blush the same way she does, but autism. You are the way you are not because you have a soul but because of your symptoms and diagnoses; you are not an amalgam of your ancestors or curious constellation of traits but the clinical result of a timeline of childhood events.”

We are products with labels

10/29/2025

What an amazing space! ABA therapy can improve the lives, as well as be life-saving, for many people on the ASD spectrum. With a spectrum this large, one size will never fit all.