Victimology.

Lately, I've discovered the show Criminal Minds which is on reruns on a satellite station. I think I must be close to having seen all of the episodes now. In any case, often on the show they talk about "victimology" which obviously means the study of victims, usually of crimes. On Criminal Minds, they study the victims, usually of serial violent offenders, to pinpoint patterns or specific characteristics of the victims that might link them. This could be anything from hair color to race to location and so on.
I've been thinking a lot about how special needs children are so much more vulnerable to becoming victims than the rest of us without special needs. We have certainly heard in the news about children being bullied in schools. These victims are not often popular, intelligent, athletic, and smooth students. The victims a lot of the times are children with special needs, not always autism but often possessing social deficits and/or behavioral challenges.
Special needs children are more frequently abused as well. Let's face it: they can be challenging to deal with and that challenge can lead to frustration and push people to their tipping point. (Please understand that I do not mean this to be ANY kind of excuse for inexcusable, not to mention illegal, actions. Nor do I mean to "blame the victim.") I'm devastated to hear stories in the news about murder/suicide when a parent kills their child and then commits suicide. I cannot really even fathom the kind of despair that drives that act.
Special needs children are more frequently the victims of other crimes, violent or not. Because their developmental level may be younger than same-age peers they can often be gullible, overly-trusting, and generally show poor judgment.
Lastly, children with autism are more likely to be victims of accidents, sometimes leading to death. It seems like in the summer we hear a story or two PER WEEK of a child with autism wandering away to their own death- drowning being the most common end. Until you've experienced a child who is a "runner" firsthand, it really is impossible to understand how difficult it is to keep these children safe. I've also heard of autistic children falling to their death, jumping out of a window, getting hit by cars, dying in a fire, being left in a hot car.
It's heartbreaking to hear these stories. But I feel it's important to tell these stories so that people know how fragile our children are. How vulnerable they are to predators, bullies, accidents. Vulnerable even to themselves and their own lack of judgment.