Posts by Hilary Stace
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Up Front: P.A. Story, in reply to Sacha,
I visited a chocolate shop once out in Governor's Bay that had the most sensorily indulgent chocolate. It had a kind of feminist name. It had a view over the sea and magical garden outside that looked just the sort of place a witch would hide.
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Actually the manatee could be an Australian dugong (same species, different tail shape) blown off course by the strong westerlies. That's very plausible. They are sirenians so related to mermaids so possibly angels.
I would also quite like there to be a Margaret Mahy type witch (like the one in the cherry tree) which is a also very Christchurch. With magical powers. It could live out by Governors Bay near the feminist chocolate shop.
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Could there be a manatee in there somewhere, maybe swimming up the Avon? (Sort of like a stranded penguin). I'd also like an angel and some good karma (ie a happy story). But that's just me.
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Hard News: Like Minds, in reply to Graeme Edgeler,
Like most things to do with autism, hard data is very hard to find. (I can't think of one database that has a nice neat tickbox space for 'autism' - even the census hides it.) But In my research I came across so many stories from countries around the world of autistic people getting tangled up with the law through sheer fear and misunderstanding. There is even a good fictional example in the novel, 'The curious incident of the dog in the night-time'. The police know there is an issue and there are some good people trying to improve understanding about autism, ADHD and also mental health conditions.
A retired US judge and academic with an interest in this area, Judge David Admire, is coming to NZ and is speaking at VUW (possibly the Kelburn campus?) on 31 August. Members of the Police have been involved in bringing him here. I think he's also booked for a RNZ interview.
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I've heard hints that there might be an official (and uninformed) assumption that Arie needs 'treatment' ie a chemical straightjacket in a forensic unit. No - he needs a discharge, an ordinary life and a job.
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$2 was mentioned.
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Hard News: Angry and thrilled about Arie, in reply to chris,
The light bulbs (and switches) had no value to anyone but Arie (or someone like him). It was a condemned demolition site (pre all earthquakes).
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Thanks re the time. Hadn't noticed that.
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Russell, I've just been back over the chronology of this situation and although your first HN post about Arie was on 7 March the posters on the thread are only dated an unhelpful 'four months ago' ,' three months ago' etc. Is there any way (since this will hopefully be archived) of putting a real date on posts?
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Thanks Russell. Another player in this 'case' has been social media. Your PA thread started soon after the first media story hinted at what has now been shown to be a huge injustice, and continued on and off for four months. Facebook friends and autism sector colleagues organised, firstly, a lawyer with understanding of the issues, who later handed over to the current defence lawyer, and, secondly, ensured the situation was not forgotten. I'm sure these all contributed to the Sunday story happening at all and in the way it did. The current FB page Justice for Arie Smith-Voorkamp has been very busy over the last couple of days with first hand accounts and advice on how and where to advocate to address this huge injustice. Hasn't finished yet.