Tag Archives: petition

Roseanne Fulton free on bail after assault

CLICK HERE TO ACCESS ARTICLE: Roseanne Fulton free on bail after assault

Yahoo! 7 News, 11 July 2014

Accessed on: 18 July 2014

Commentary by: Jeanelle Mandes

Rosie Fulton, from Alice Springs – the largest town in the Northern Territory in Australia, was incarcerated in an Australian prison for crashing a stolen vehicle.

She “was deemed unfit to stand trial because she has fetal alcohol syndrome disorder (FASD) and the mental age of a young child.”

Although it doesn’t specify if her FASD diagnosis was addressed or not, it makes you wonder about issues of vulnerability those with FASD face when it comes to crime.

According to a FASD online fact sheet, “People with FASD generally have problems understanding abstract concepts such as money or law. Theft of money is different to a person who is able to understand the value of money.”

“This difficulty with abstraction means that many persons with FASD cannot adequately imagine or consider the future. This places them at risk during stages of court processing, such as plea-bargaining, sentencing or a parole hearing, not to mention in their everyday life.

“FASD also increases vulnerability to manipulation and coercion because they want to please those they perceive to be in positions of authority.”

After reviewing the fact sheet and the news source, it indicates how some people with FASD can be easily intimidated by others. It’s unfortunate society takes advantage of those who have FASD looking at them as puppets on a string.

In situations such as Rosie Fulton, it is such a sad reality that she was sent to a prison because the Australian legal system didn’t have a place for her that met her needs. But there are people like the 120,000 who signed a petition to free Fulton that show the support and understanding of FASD.

 

Click here to see a CBC video called “Justice for people with FASD who commit crimes”.

TO THE HONOURABLE THE SPEAKER AND MEMBERS OF THE SENATE: The disability Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder is not recognised by the federal government as a disability. This creates difficulties for families living with FASD with state and federal services

TO THE HONOURABLE THE SPEAKER AND MEMBERS OF THE SENATE: The disability Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder is not recognised by the federal government as a disability. This creates difficulties for families living with FASD with state and federal services

Petition by
 Anne Russell of the Russell Family Fetal Alcohol Disorders Association (Accessed on December 14th)

Commentary by Shauna Makie

Anne Russell of the Russell Family Fetal Alcohol Disorders Association in Australia has started a petition for the Speaker and Members of the Senate to recognize FASD as a federally recognized disability. Russell approaches the dilemma by having readers recognize the challenges that often go unseen for those individuals living with FASD. “Their days are spent trying to make sense of what is happening to them, rather than learning from their experiences” Russell declares, and that their cognitive disability goes masked by other social systems such as the welfare, employment, mental health, drug and alcohol, prison, and disability services as a result of their undiagnosed disability. Although some organizations do recognize FASD as a considerable cognitive disability that qualifies for certain programming, the Federal Government does not include it as a disability.

In Canada, particularly in Saskatchewan, FASD is recognized as a disability. However, the ambiguity of FASD as a disability is found in the process of diagnosis—or lack there of. Saskatchewan, and other provinces often suffer both financially and resourcefully in allocating services to attain an FASD diagnosis in order to qualify for appropriate programming. As Russell identified, without the government investing directly into understanding and diagnosing FASD, these individuals are placed in insufficient programs that lead to further suffering elongating the forging of secondary disabilities.