Sharon / Re: Scott's Legal Problems

[Toto <toto@sk.sympatico.ca>]

Sharon,
  While I don't have a lot of details regarding Scott's personal
history, as such, I have a lifetime of experience with TS, the medical
system, and the legal system, as well.
  I spent more than a little time in court and at seminars, as a
counsellor, addressing the issues of physical and mental disabilities
and the resulting behavior patterns that are engendered by them. I have
found that both judges and prosecutors inherently understand the issues
themselves, but that defendants rarely have anyone able to effectively
speak for them in regard to these issues.

  The fact of the matter is, the legal system is geared toward
'punishment' as a means of impressing upon people that they need to
modify their behavior in order to act within the boundaries required by
society. In order for people with special needs to be afforded an
opportunity to meet society's requirements, there is an onus upon them
to be able to show reasonable cause to the judge as to why a 'generic'
solution to the problem they present to society is neither feasible, nor
just.
  As a result of being afflicted with Tourette Syndrome, your son has
problems that I am very familiar with, since I have had to deal with the
results of the affliction myself for almost a half-century, without
proper diagnosis. So I will endeavor to explain some of the
life-experiences that I have been through, personally, as a result of
this disease's influence on my life.

  The fact is, I was unjustly charged and convicted of a minor drug
offense at the age of 19, for the simple reason that I was 'different'
from the other 'suspects', and thus was more suspicious. I was fortunate
enough to recognize that I was, indeed, different from others, and that
this would be something that would affect my life greatly in the future.
The result was that I made an effort to fully understand the intricacies
of the law and to take actions to protect myself in the future, no
matter whether my actions were in line with societies dictates, or
beyond the acceptable boundaries of society.
  When you are 'different', then you are subject to a much closer
scrutiny than the rest of society, and to a much harsher punishment, as
a rule. I have spent hours on end at the border crossing near my
hometown while customs officials called down the drug dogs from the big
city, because I couldn't explain to them why I was 'twitching'. I have
spent many days in jail waiting to answer to charges that would later be
dismissed because there was no substance to them. I have been subjected
to personal debasement and humiliating libel because of various
authorities deeming that the manifestations of my disability were signs
of my lack of morality, or of evil intentions on my part.

  You say your son has problems over possessing pills that a friend gave
him to try in order to help his TS?
  My father and mother have given me, over the years, various of their
medications to try in order to see if it would help me. They did so
because, for all of their care and concern, helping me as much as
possible within the 'proper boundaries' of medical science, I was not
getting what I needed in order to become a functional human being.
  My father and mother are respected business people and leading members
of the community. They never had to fear getting 'busted' for stepping
outside the bounds of society--but I did.
  I found a drug, amphetamine, that helped me to become a functional
member of society, but I was subject to arrest and imprisonment if I got
caught possessing it. After over three decades of occasional 'illegal'
use of the drug, it is now prescribed for my by a doctor who is allowed
to do so because it is now a 'recognized' treatment for TS. But, from a
legal standpoint, I was supposed to forego use of the drug and lead a
more dysfunctional life.

  DWI's? The most functional period of my life was spent self-medicating
with alcohol and nicotine. I acted as president of a small computer
company while smoking a carton
of cigarettes a day and drinking a case (24) of beer a day. It made me
functional.
  I put on 30-50,000 miles a year, accident free, and there were times
that I would not drive if I didn't have my 'medicine/beer' because I
didn't feel it was safe to do so. I had the foresight to buy my own
breathalyzer so that I could guage my drinking according to the legal
standard, but I did so only for legal reasons, not for reasons of
safety.

  Public intoxication? I was recently 'forced' to show up in court in a
state of legally defined 'public intoxication' in order not to be locked
in a cage like an animal as a result of my disabilities.
  I missed a court appearance because the prescribed medications I was
taking could not get me onto the 'day schedule' required by the legal
system. Under threat of imprisonment for failing to show up at the next
court date, I spent the previous night imbibing my 'old faithful'
medication, Scotch. I had a friend drive me to court, and I drank Scotch
and Coke while pleading my case (which I won).
  I had no desire to 'break the law'. I did not have an 'attitude
problem'. I was not trying to 'flaunt the rules of society'. I was
trying to survive. I was trying to keep from being locked in a cage for
not being able to function according to society's wishes without
performing actions which also went against society's wishes, but which
would enable me to avoid 'punishment', nonetheless.

  I take it that Scott is 'hiding out' to avoid being locked in a cage
for violating the rules of society.
  I have spent a great deal of my life 'hiding out' so that I would not
have to come into contact with society and be punished for trying to
survive while not fitting into the common mold.
  There have been times when I was forced to 'hide out' from showing up
in court to answer this-or-that charge which I knew would be dismissed
if I could hold out until I was functional enough to deal with the
situation. I had the foresight and the knowledge to do so using the same
'techniques' as a lawyer who isn't ready to plead a case because he
stayed up too late drinking the night before. I 'fudged' the truth, as
lawyers do every day, but I did so in order to compensate for a
dysfunctionality which was very real, but undiagnosed and therefore
unrecognized by the legal system.

  I have been blessed enough in life to have 'escaped' many situations
which could have turned out badly for me, by virtue of learning at a
young age that I needed to institute my own methods of dealing with a
dysfunctionality which I recognized, but which, in many ways, remained a
mystery to me.
  I have also been blessed by having the extreme good fortune to have
encountered a number of judges and prosecutors who were truly concerned
about justice, and who had the ability to judge me as a human being, and
take into account the fact that I was being honest with them about my
attitude, intentions and circumstances, even when my outward actions or
appearance did not correspond to what they were used to seeing in
'normal' people. 
  And I have been blessed to be able to make a difference in the lives
of others by pleading their case to those in authority over them, when
they were unable to effectively do so themselves. During my years as a
consellor and court-appointed advisor, I was only vaguely aware that I
understood the circumstances of the people I was helping to defend
because I shared their disabilities and their dysfunctionality.

  In regard to Scott, I don't know him personally, but the trials and
tribulations that you have shared on the pov-twitch forum are not
foreign to me, as they mirror my own life in many ways.
  What I would say to a judge and a prosecutor who are charged with the
duty of protecting both society and the individual, is this:
 1. Please have the compassion and the wisdom to take a close look at
Scott as a human being, and seriously consider what special
circumstances may be raised by the fact that he is afflicted with a
medical condition that affects his life in ways that he has little
control over.
 2. Try to make a distinction between actions, behaviors and attitudes
that are a result of a 'bad attitude' or a 'criminal intent', and the
actions, behaviors and attitudes of an individual who is trying
desperately to survive in a world in which he is ill-equipped to
function as a result of his disabilities.
 3. Please make an attempt to review his past history of involvement
with the legal system with an eye toward recognizing that perhaps the
judgements made about him, and the resulting legal decisions regarding
the disposition of his cases, did not fully take into account his
physical and mental disabilities and thus did not reflect the best
course of resolution of his case for the greatest benefit of both
society and the individual himself. (The Tourette-support forums
regularly contain postings by loving and concerned parents who are
horrified by the mistaken judgements--and resulting punishments-they
made concerning their children before they came to realize that their
child had physical and mental disabilities which required them to view
his or her actions in a new light, and find unique solutions for the
problems that these disabilities presented.)
 4.  Keep in mind the fact that resistance to authority and the tendency
to 'flee' from the face of society are common traits among many who
suffer from Tourette Syndrome and its accompanying afflictions. (I
posted a message to pov-twitch in which I spoke of feeling like a
"hunted animal" for much of my life, and I received a huge outpouring of
responses from TS-adults which reflected the pain and fear that they
still carried inside of themselves as a result of a lifetime of
persecution for the 'small sin' of being different from those around
them.)
 5. Please realize that you are judging an individual, whose future lies
in your hands, who has a genuine need for special understanding in order
to bring his case to a resolution which will benefit society and the
individual himself.

  It is easy to recognize the special circumstances and needs necessary
to dispense true justice in the case of the 'obviously' and the
'acceptably' disabled. When one is confronted with a retarded
individual, or a person in a wheel-chair, the special circumstances
regarding the disposition of their case are obvious. When judging a
person who is rambling on disjointedly about the voices in his or her
head, and truly hears them, then the need to take this into
consideration is equally obvious.
  It is much more difficult to put Tourette Syndrome-type behaviors and
attitudes into proper perspective, and to judge the part they play in an
individuals actions and behaviors. TS traits encompass ADHD and OCD
(Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder), and a variety of 'borderline'
dysfunctionalities which result in actions and behaviors which are easy
to classify as 'willful', 'disrespectful', etc. (Children who won't sit
still in their chairs; who utter obscenities; who perform impulsive
actions based on irrational, illogical thought processes.)
  I recognize that there are certain instances in which society's
interest is best served by locking up an individual so that they do not
do irrepairable harm to others, but if this concept is extended to the
point where it becomes the preferred method of dealing with
psychological disabilities, out of convenience, then I feel that justice
is no longer being served.

  Society, in return for abridging the rights of an individual to act in
any manner that he or she pleases, also takes on the responsibility to
ensure that the individual will not unduly suffer as a result of the
dictates of society.
  If society chooses to judge Scott for stepping outside the boundaries
of its rule of law, then society must ensure that Scott is afforded the
opportunity to gain the medical assistance that he needs in order to
deal with his disabilities within the bounds of society's laws.
  Imprisonment is hardly likely to be a solution that will result in
changes to Scott's medical disabilities. If the legal system is not able
to propose an alternative to imprisonment, then what hope is there,
really, for anyone who is engaged in a daily battle to overcome the
trials, tribulations and stigmatism associated with the affliction of
Tourette Syndrome.

  I wish you and Scott all the best in dealing with his present
situation, and I hope that you are blessed with a judge who understands
that society is composed of individuals and that, in judging the
individual, he or she is judging society itself.

Love,
 Toto