Autism Vox

UCB Cop Taunts Protester with Asperger’s

by Kristina Chew, PhD on June 22nd, 2008

While out in California last week, I spent some time in Berkeley and saw the site of the tree protest outside the University of California’s Memorial Stadium: Treesitters have been protesting about the University’s plans to cut the trees for the past 18 months and things have gotten volatile.

Nathan Pitts, a “disability rights advocate (particularly for Asperger’s and related conditions) and budding environmental advocate,” wrote about being assaulted by a UCB police officer when he went to see a friend who is a treesitter on January 28th in a letter in the February 1st Berkeley Planet. Today in IndyBay, Pitts notes that an advocate from the Autism Spectrum Liberation Front is considering suing the University of California-Berkeley’s police for the no-coincidental sum of $2.1 Million and links to a  video in which a UCB cop calls a protester with Asperger’s “Forrest Gump.” Like I said, things have gotten volatile or maybe they’re just warming up…….

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POSTED IN: Asperger's Syndrome, Legal Issues, Stereotypes