Autistic teenager beaten up by bullies makes them watch 20-minute video about autism
Courageous Gavin Joseph has powerful response to the bullies who attacked him
Your support helps us to tell the story
This election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.
The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.
Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.
A teenager with Asperger’s syndrome has given an important lesson to a gang of bullies who beat him up.
Rather than pressing charges, he recorded a 20-minute video about his condition for them to watch and learn about life from his point of view.
Gavin Joseph was tricked by a group of boys into thinking that they wanted to be friends with him, but they then violently attacked him because they felt his condition makes him ‘weird’ and ‘creepy’.
The teenager from Illinois has asked that instead of being punished, the attackers should be better educated about his life and his condition. He has also asked that the assailants each write an essay about Asperger’s and to undertake some community service working with people who have disabilities.
His courageous stand against their ignorance was shared on Facebook by his mother Cortnie Stone.
She wrote: “Some kids were talking about how it’s weird that he’s always by himself, attending events alone and watching people, and that it was “creepy” how he wanted to be friends with people he didn’t know.
“Another kid that overheard that conversation decided to take matters into his own hands and become judge and jury, and this is the result of that. He didn’t ask questions, didn’t get to know Gavin, never met him, and didn’t give him a chance to leave.
“He was called to meet someone, surrounded by people he didn’t know, choked, punched, and left laying on the pavement so he would ‘learn his lesson’.
“Gavin is fine. He has mild concussion, a bruised oesophagus, the tip of his nose fractured, and hematoma in his eye, but nothing permanent.
“He did not press charges, but requested their community service be disability related, that they write a paper on Asperger’s, and that they watch a 20 min video statement he taped while their families were present so they could see the damage they did and hear the event from his perspective.”
She added: “I am so proud of him, and I hope a lesson will of this to all that hear about it.”
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments